Selling Honeycomb: How Much Can You Make? A Practical Guide

Whether you’re a beginner beekeeper, intermediate, or very experienced, at some point you will explore the option of selling some of your honeycomb for profit. But what is a realistic amount of money I can sell my honeycomb for?

You can earn between $1 to $2 per ounce or $12 to $16 per lb selling your honeycomb. The prices will vary depending on type of packaging, floral source, if the honeycomb is certified organic, and your local region.

You may simply be interested in recouping some of your beekeeping costs or maybe selling honeycomb as another complimentary income stream for your beekeeping business. I’ll explore the different options you should consider as you plan to sell your honeycomb.

Can You Make Money Selling Honeycomb

As you gain more experience and have built several strong bee colonies another good income stream is to collect and sell some of your honeycomb. The demand for fresh honeycomb does vary by region but in general it does get sold pretty quickly. The key is correct pricing and presentation.

You really need to know your local pricing and what price you can demand for your honeycomb. You’re going to want a price that is at least equal to or higher than if you were to sell your honey and beeswax separately.

Not to mention the time to harvest the honeycomb by hand, proper storage, and packaging costs. This is why most honeycomb is fairly expensive in comparison to honey.

Here is the price range for selling honeycomb based on Country:

United States – $1 to $2 an ounce or $12 to $16 per lb. You can demand a premium price for certified organic honeycomb as well. These prices are in US dollars.

Canada – $4.50 to $6 per 100 grams or $24 to $30 per lb. Similar to the United States if you sell certified organic honeycomb you can demand a premium price. These prices are in Canadian dollars.

United Kingdom – £3.20 to £5.50 per 100 grams. You can demand a higher price for certified organic honeycomb. Also, some UK retailers sell honeycomb dipped in chocolate which you could also sell as a premium. These prices are in Pound sterling.

Australia – $5.50 to $8 per 100 grams. You can demand a higher price for certified organic honeycomb. These prices are in Australian dollars.

The price ranges I’ve listed above are based on the average prices demanded across a wide number of regions in each Country. They are very realistic price ranges but please keep in mind these are only estimates and I urge you to double check the pricing being demanded in your local region.

Most beekeepers don’t sell a lot of honeycomb, if any, because you are destroying valuable comb and thus losing money from honey production since you can’t use that comb anymore. It takes your bees a considerable amount of effort to produce the wax and comb.

And if you want some guidance on selling your honey, hold up for just a bit, I wrote an article all about how much money you can make selling your honey that I encourage you to read!

Bees require a very large amount of nectar to produce comb and fill it so quickly. It takes around 40 pounds of nectar for bees to make 1 lb of comb. This is before they even begin to fill the cells with honey.

Since wax is the basis for honeycomb, bees will consume around 6-8 pounds of honey to produce only 1 pound of wax. Also, they require around 5 pounds of nectar to produce 1 pound of honey.

This is why you can only produce high quality honeycomb during a heavy honey flow. Just like honey this will be the best and really only time you can harvest a reasonable amount of honeycomb from your strongest colonies.

I also wrote an article all about how long it takes for bees to make honeycomb that I encourage you to read. It gives you more realistic expectations for new hives.

Here is a good video demonstrating cutting honeycomb by hand.

If you’re going to sell honeycomb I recommend using special frames (no plastic foundation) that are specifically designed for harvesting honeycomb, and a square comb cutter for removing the comb in 4 inch squares.

And if you’re interested in other income streams from your hives, I wrote a simple guide on how many beehives it takes to make a living that I encourage you to read!

How Do You Package Honeycomb

All honeycomb sold to consumers needs to be correctly labelled and adhere to your federal, state or province, and local laws and regulations for the labelling and sale of honey.

Most beekeepers package their honeycomb in small round pieces or in 4 inch square chunks approximately 12 to 14 ounces in net weight. You need to use pretty strong plastic packaging that seals well so you don’t have honey leaking from the seams (especially if your shipping your honeycomb).

When packaging your honeycomb you have to be very careful since it is so fragile and will break easily. Consumers will not purchase broken honeycomb in the package. When it comes to fresh honeycomb presentation is everything.

How Long Can You Store Honeycomb

Honeycomb can be stored for a very long time, but it will begin to crystallize over time if stored at room temperature. Your honeycomb will never spoil if it’s stored properly, and moisture doesn’t get into the container.

Ideally you would store honeycomb in a sealed container or a jar at room temperature and store it in the freezer if you don’t like crystallized honey. Now keep in mind, everyone will tell you that honeycomb can last forever, even at room temperature, but realistically after 1-year honeycomb begins to lose its scent and flavor.

The best long-term solution for storing your honeycomb is by freezing it. This way it will last you for many years. A lot of people prefer to eat their honey right from the comb and if you haven’t you should try it sometime.

The combs are made of beeswax and are 100% edible and are just bursting with delicious honey that can be eaten with a spoon. The wax combs are typically chewy and will ball up in your mouth like gum. Some people will just spit out the wax while others will just eat it. Beeswax is safe to eat but humans cannot digest it.

The wax has a sticky texture and coats your teeth with a high friction surface that feels weird. The wax doesn’t taste like anything though. As you keep chewing the comb, the consistency will change as the liquid honey comes out. You can also put it on hot toast and the wax melts to make a unique and tasty snack.