Nearly everyone underestimates year one and overestimates what the honey pays back.
These are real vendor prices, checked July 2026, with nothing left off the list.
First-year colonies rarely make a surplus — 40 lb per hive is a reasonable
established average for south-central Pennsylvania. Set it to zero to see year one honestly.
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Year one, all in
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Running cost each year
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Honey income a year
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Break-even
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The bill
Two hives cost far less than twice one hive. The suit, smoker, hive tool and extractor are
bought once no matter how many colonies you run. That's most of why the second hive is cheaper —
and it's also the standard advice for a different reason: with two colonies you can rob brood
from the strong one to save the weak one. With one, a queen failure is just over.
What people leave off the list. Mite treatments every year. Fifty pounds of sugar per hive
for autumn feed. Replacement frames and foundation. Jars, lids and labels if you sell. A stand to
keep boxes off the ground. Fuel to get to the out-yard. None of it is large on its own, and
together it's most of what a hive actually costs you after the first season.
Honey money is not profit. The figures above compare income against direct costs only —
your time isn't in there. At forty pounds a hive and a dozen hours a year per colony, most
hobbyists are earning well under minimum wage on the honey and doing it anyway, because that
isn't why they keep bees. Just don't quit your job over the spreadsheet.