What's the hourly rate for beekeeping instructions?

[Luke N.]

I know some of you in the club give classes and teach bee husbandry to beginners.  Can you tell me what you charge?  I've been working with a local school on starting up a couple beehives and we need to include the cost of beekeeping instructions in the grant.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on one's perspective, I will be moving to VA next week and will not be able help get the hives started.  So the instructions would need to be on site and provide assistance with installing packages into new beehives. 

The school is on the west side of Madison if that makes a difference.  Also if you are interested in helping please send me an email. 

Thanks,

Luke

[Russ Faulkner]

I also work at the school in question and know the Teacher involved in the project.

Russ 

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[Paul Zelenski]

Luke, it's not clear what you are asking. Are you asking for someone to commit to helping the school or are you just looking for a reference price? If you're looking for a commitment, more description as to what you're looking for would be helpful. 

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[Luke N.]

Sorry for being vague.  Right now I am looking for an estimate on how much a beekeeper would charge per hour to help a school start a beekeeping program so that figure could be incorporated into a grant.

If the grant comes through we will most likely look to the DCBA for help as I will no longer be in Wisconsin. 

Thanks,

Luke

[Matthew Hennek]

Average salary of a beekeeper being $73k/yr.

https://www.sokanu.com/careers/beekeeper/salary/

2080 working hours per year.

Typical overhead and g&a ~50-130% (very dependent on the industry).

Thus I would put in $53-81/hr.

I have written quite a few gov grants if you need someone to take a look at a draft.

Matt

[Russ Faulkner]

Hey Luke, 

I"m not actually a beekeeper, more like a bee enthusiast. I'm wanting to learn as well :) 

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[Roger Crum]

$73k per year for the average beekeeper "salary" just doesn't pass the straight face test. Quote that figure in a room of full time beekeepers and they would likely erupt in gales of laughter.

Full time beekeepers would be very unlikely to work a mere 2,080 hours per year like mere mortals.

Those figures must be of a specialized set of employees of government or educational organizations rather than taken from actual net incomes of the thousands of commercial beekeepers. Would that such were true.

Not mocking you but rather the statistics themselves. Even with wholesale honey prices north of $2.50/#, it would take a very large operation to net that kind of income.

A beekeeper would do well to be employed seasonally at $15-18/hr and work long hours.

[jeanne hansen]

Yes, and the goofy thing about this grant-writing business is, a beekeeper could likely be found who would donate their time and effort to help set up beekeeping at a school.  Meaning the beekeeper knows he has to do all the bee work, and if there is an enthusiastic teacher at the school, that teacher makes sure the kids benefit.  The beekeeper can't crack the kids out of their classrooms to learn anything about the bees.  There has to be a cooperative teacher.

What is the name of this mystery school?  Is Russ the teacher??

 

Thanks!
Jeanne Hansen
824 Jacobson Ave
Madison, WI 53714
608-244-5094

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From: Roger Crum <recr...@gmail.com>
To: mad...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 10:07 PM
Subject: Re: [madbees] What's the hourly rate for beekeeping instructions?

[Russ Faulkner]

No, I"m not the teacher. I work there as a tutor and know the teacher that is sponsoring this project. 

[Matthew Hennek]

You're writing a government grant thus your assumptions have to be based on such. Reality or not, 2080 hours is a pretty typical number used. You can disagree with my salary number however the purpose of this exercise is to justify a labor cost. I've also seen $52k thrown around.
http://animalcareers.about.com/od/Careers/a/Beekeeper.htm

Hourly rate includes much more than just labor. Typically of the actual amount charged to the gov for a persons labor only 33-50% actual pays that persons salary. Even if the person only gets $16/hr hourly rate you really need to build $32-50/hr into the proposal.

$16/hr is a hired help rate, not a rate you'd pay an expert in their field who is also a good teacher. You're paying this person to educate children while working with bees, not someone to shake bees into packages.

[jeanne hansen]

I'm sorry I sounded a little rude.  At first I thought I must have missed an e-mail, but now it sounds like we all came into this subject by the back door.

It may be possible that a grant application has to have a line for beekeeping instruction.  One can fill in just about any amount, big or little.  No matter what one puts, the amount then may or may not actually be handed to the beekeeper, right? So the amount entered has more to do with how big one can make the request and get it granted.

 Frankly, my beekeeping at the Goodman Youth Center, for example, can't be bought.  I don't expect a donation, because I keep my hives there as a public service to the youth, and as a personal favor to the very cooperative and appreciative director of Teens and Gardening.

One of our members manages a hive or two for the company community gardens at the Gilson Corp, for free.

Mark Evans was all set to install a bee hive at some school, but then the administration got scared, and didn't accept it.  Mark wasn't getting reimbursed, except from a grant that covered the equipment and bees.

I think the perceived lack of cooperation from our club stems from a lack of details, and amazement at the thought that a school would seriously try to hire a beekeeper.  Let them do an internet search or look in a bee journal to find the cost of a beginning beekeeping class.  One class won't get them far, unless the teacher intends to become a beekeeper.

(I still sound grumpy, don't I?  What school is this??  Someone in our club really does want to help them.)

 

Thanks!
Jeanne Hansen
824 Jacobson Ave
Madison, WI 53714
608-244-5094

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From: Russ Faulkner <russ.f...@gmail.com>
To: mad...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 10:29 PM

[Matthew Hennek]

"One can fill in just about any amount, big or little. No matter what one puts, the amount then may or may not actually be handed to the beekeeper, right?"

That may be considered fraud...something to stay away from.

[Luke N.]

Thanks everybody for you help, I truly appreciate it.

I'm not comfortable mentioning the name of the school as it is not my
place to do so. I'm just helping on a project that may or may not move
forward.

Thanks again,

luke

[Nate Vack]

On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 9:16 PM, Matthew Hennek <matthew...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Thus I would put in $53-81/hr.

My dad's been a small business counselor for about twenty years, and his rule of thumb is that if you're charging less than $100/hour for contract work, you're going to have a hard time making a living*. This sounds rather like contract work to me, so I guess it'd roughly apply. Remember, you're probably going to put out a posting, people will need to apply and be interviewed, and they don't get paid for any of that.

I'm sure you can get someone to teach classes at a lower rate, but if you want someone who's taking the business seriously and all, it's reasonable to pay more. Low-bid teaching is probably not generally a bargain ;-)

Best,

-Nate

* Not that beekeeping is famous for paying well.

[Brad Krantz]

Greedy

 

Thanks

 

P.S.

BL06233 Pumpkin Pie Thaw/serve 10" 6/37oz  FFZ       CS $19.49

 

 

Brad Krantz

U W Provision Company

PO Box 620038

2315 Pleasantview Road

Middleton WI 53562

800-832-0517  x3129

Brad....@uwprovision.com

You run with those that “Run with the Bulls”

 

From: mad...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mad...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Nate Vack
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2014 9:35 AM
To: mad...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [madbees] What's the hourly rate for beekeeping instructions?

 

On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 9:16 PM, Matthew Hennek <matthew...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Paul Reith]

I'd say assume $25/hr to cover someone's travel costs. You'll find an experienced person that would like to help out.

If it's for a grant, sure, go for the technical estimate provided. How the grant is actually utilized goes well beyond the initial estimate, so if you found a better rate, it could go much further.

Cheers,

Paul