Pollination Contract Checker — Is the Fee Per Hive Worth It?

A grower offered you a fee per hive. Does it clear your costs?

Enter the fee and what it takes to deliver the bees. You get your net per hive, the cost breakdown and the break-even fee, after trucking, labour, feed, hive losses, hives that fail inspection and the honey they would have made at home. Growers can switch to the second card for cost per acre.

Calculated in this browser tab. No account, no upload. The tool contains no market data, and the example numbers are made up.

1. Beekeeper: the contract

Hives you would send

Fee per hive ($)

Hives failing inspection (%)

Broker share of fees (%)

Miles, yard to orchard (one way)

Truck cost per mile ($)

Hives per truckload

Labour hours per hive, each way

Labour rate ($/hour)

Feed per hive during contract ($)

Hives lost or too weak to keep (%)

Cost to replace a hive ($)

Income each hive would earn staying home ($)

Other fixed costs ($)

Change the numbers or load the example, then click Check the contract.

2. Grower: what the bees cost per acre

Acres

Hives per acre

Fee per hive ($)

Expected yield per acre (units)

Price per unit ($)

How the numbers work, and what they leave out

Gross = hives passing inspection × fee. Failed hives are unpaid but still cost.
Trucking = loads (rounded up) × 2 × miles × cost per mile. Labour = hives × hours × 2 (load and unload) × rate.
Losses = hives × loss % × replacement cost. Forgone income is what each hive would have earned at home in those weeks.
Break-even fee is the fee at which net is zero with your other inputs unchanged.
Not modelled: pesticide-exposure terms, second-crop or honey flow after the contract, price changes mid-season, taxes, insurance beyond the fixed amount you enter, and contract terms.

Common questions

How much should a beekeeper charge per hive for pollination?

There is no single number: it depends on the crop, the year, the minimum frame count in the contract, and your own costs. Work backwards instead. Add trucking, labour, feed, expected hive losses, the honey the hives would have made at home and any broker share, and divide by the hives that will pass inspection. That is your break-even fee. This tool calculates it from your numbers; anything above it is your margin.

Why does inspection failure matter so much?

Contracts typically pay only for hives that meet a minimum strength, often counted in frames of bees. A hive that fails is still trucked, fed and handled. Because the costs stay and the fee goes, every extra 10% of hives failing costs roughly a tenth of the fee on every hive you sent.

How far can I truck bees before it stops paying?

When trucking per hive plus everything else exceeds the fee. Enter your miles, the truck cost per mile and how many hives fit on a load. The tool shows the break-even fee and tells you when the contract loses money.

What does it cost a grower?

Hives per acre times the fee per hive. Enter your acres, your stocking rate and optionally your yield and price, and the tool shows the cost per acre and the yield lift that pays for it. It does not estimate what bees will actually add to your yield; that is a number you supply.

Where do the numbers come from?

From you. The tool contains no pollination prices, crop prices or cost data. The example values are made up.

Is my data uploaded?

No. Everything is calculated in your browser tab and nothing is sent anywhere. There are no accounts.

Is this business, legal or tax advice?

No. It is arithmetic on numbers you enter. A contract, insurance, pesticide-exposure terms and taxes need a qualified professional, your state apiarist or an extension agent.