Downsizer Beekeeping Co-op

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Downsizer Beekeeping Co-op

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goosey

Joined: 29 Apr 2009
Posts: 380
Location: Merry England

Posted: Fri May 29, 09 4:03 am Post subject: Downsizer Beekeeping Co-op

A Co-op. This was moonwind's idea last night, and I think it is well worth thinking about.
Personally, not having a bee to my name yet, I had only thought I would like to feed my family, and have some over to give as gifts.
However, I would buy wax, honey etc if a Dsr was selling, and I didn't have any.
If I ever had surplus, it would be nice to sell to the forum.
It could aso be used to barter/swop for other produce on here.
There is a Dsr co-op for meat? Don't know how it works yet, if the meat goes outside, or just on here.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Fri May 29, 09 5:05 am Post subject:

Doubt you will have any trouble selling honey or wax here.
Saying that you shouldn't have any trouble selling it locally
Last Autumn there was quite a lot of people asking for honey.
& with the number of craftspeople here wax should be popular.
When I read coop I thought your idea was to club together to buy cheaper kit.
Frames & foundation etc become a lot cheaper when you buy quantity.
Which would be a great Idea if we could sort out the transport.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri May 29, 09 7:51 am Post subject:
I agree with Tav - I wonder if we could set up a purchasing co-op as he describes? Or, if some of the Good With Wood types could put together a flat-pack Downsizer Hive and Other Bits to supply people with? As for flogging/buying stuff - the Trading Post section works pretty well - I think downsizer as a whole is a pretty good co-operative!

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Fri May 29, 09 8:19 am Post subject:

My problem is I can't produce enough honey to satisfy demand from friends and neighbours never mind anyone else - We had a crop of 22lb of honey last year from my hives - that was 1/3 of the crop I had the previous year from one hive!

My hope this year is to produce enough honey for our use and have a little left over to sell - I've already got orders for about 15lb and that's without even trying to sell it - I want at least 30lb for us as we use it to make mead and alot in cooking - so my girls have to produce about 50lb - I'm currently running on 1 hive - so that's alot of work for them to do on their own

Mrs Baggins

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Posts: 837
Location: West Kent

Posted: Fri May 29, 09 9:26 am Post subject:

I was just involved in a group buying kit as a co-op.

The up side was that we managed to get a 22.5% discount. The downside was that the order was huge and the supplier got the order a bit muddled as a result.

Then you need someone sensible to sort all the delivery out reliably and get ppl's orders out to them promptly. The guy who did it for us (our tutor) got seriously stressed about it and has sworn he will never do it again.

I think if I was going to get involved in a co-op buying again it might be an idea to negotiate with the supplier that orders be dispatched directly to individuals in the so-op even if that means attracting less of a discount.

You could still have one point of contact between the group and the supplier but you'd need to like e-mail a lot and talking on the phone.

TheGrange

Joined: 12 Apr 2009
Posts: 874

Posted: Fri May 29, 09 10:42 am Post subject:

Downsizer keeps me sane whilst having to do the multiple emails, and phone calls I have to do already!

Being a would-be bee keeper for want of the bees, I have no idea how easily it would be to dispose of any excess honey, should there be any, as it’s a homeopathic remedy use I’m hoping to have the product for I’m unsure if I would have any left over.

But the co-op purchasing sounds a goer

woodsprite

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 2943
Location: North Herefordshire

Posted: Fri May 29, 09 11:34 am Post subject:
We'd be very interested in bulk buying for the apiary too. Like everyone else we simply cannot produce enough honey to keep up with the demand locally.

Mrs Baggins

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Posts: 837
Location: West Kent

Posted: Fri May 29, 09 8:32 pm Post subject:
Really good when it works. A nightmare when it doesn't.

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