NH Honey Bee Diagnostic Network

This workbook was developed to help bee keepers estimate the cost of producing honey for sale. An initial enterprise budget for 10 colonies is presented under the Production Budget worksheet. This worksheet  includes a section, Modified Budget Estimate, which allows users to customize the information for their own
operation using the initial budget assumptions. The other two worksheets, Operating Costs and Capital Costs, provide basic information for the production budget calculations.

The Operating Costs worksheet has two tables: 1) Operating Costs Selected for Production Budget and 2) Sample Operating Costs. The Sample Operating Costs table is simply a list of the typical operating (variable) costs associated with producing honey. Select those which are appropriate for your situation and enter them in the table titled, Operating Costs Selected for Production Budget. (Note the user may opt to enter operating costs not listed as samples.) User entered information in the blue shaded cells from this table will be transferred to the Production Budget worksheet.

 

The Capital Costs worksheet collects information on the capital investment or fixed asset costs for honey production. There's space for up to fourteen different fixed asset entries. In the blue shaded cells, enter a description, the initial cost, and useful life in years for each item. Each item's description along with annual depreciation charges and total interest costs are carried over to the Production Budget worksheet. The initial number of colonies is set at 10, annual interest charge for capital investments at 5%, and repairs as a percent of intial cost at 1.5%. All three may be changed at the user's discretion under the list of investments.

​

The Production Budget worksheet requires user entries in the blue shaded cells to complete estimates of receipts, costs and net returns for the honey enterprise. Keep in mind, the initial enterprise estimates are for an operation with 10 bee colonies. This can be modified in the Production Budget worksheet and/or changed under the supporting cost sheets.

​

​

Find the resource here in PDF or Excel format