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Honey yield and price calculator

How many jars will you fill, what will they bring in, and what is left once jars, labels and feeding sugar are paid for? A simple estimate in pounds sterling, to adjust with your own figures.

Harvest
hives
kg
Scotland 2024: 21.96 lb (about 10 kg) of runny honey per hive (SBA). England and Wales 2018, a good year: just over 30 lb (about 14 kg) (BBKA).
Jar size
£/jar
Average for a 1 lb jar of runny honey in Scotland in 2024: £10.24; set honey £9.48, heather honey £12.10 (SBA survey).
Costs
£/jar
72 × 1 lb jars with gold lids cost £52 to £62 at one UK supplier in October 2026.
£/jar
Example: enter your own.
kg/hive
Example: what you fed per hive this year.
£/kg
Example: enter your own.
£
Varroa treatment, foundation, fuel, insurance, show fees…

Estimate

  • 50kgof honey (110 lb)
  • 110jars of 454 g (1 lb)
  • £1,126in sales
  • £140.20in costs
  • £986.20margin, or £197.24 per hive

Other sizes: 147 jars of 340 g or 220 jars of 227 g. Your price works out at £22.56 per kg.

How it is calculated

The formulas

honey = hives × kg per hive
jars = honey ÷ jar size, rounded down
sales = jars × price per jar
costs = jars × (jar + label) + hives × feeding sugar × sugar price + other costs
margin = sales − costs

The margin leaves out your time, the wear on hives and extractor, and association fees: it is what is left of the year’s sales once the season’s consumables are paid for. A 454 g jar holds 454 g of honey net, not gross, so weigh the first few as you fill them.

Where the defaults come from

  • 10 kg per hive: the Scottish Beekeepers Association’s 2024 survey, 21.96 lb of runny honey per hive, in a poor summer. The BBKA’s last published survey for England and Wales, in 2018, found just over 30 lb (about 14 kg), with 41 lb in the East. Yields swing widely from year to year.
  • £10.24 a jar: average price of a 1 lb jar of runny honey in the same SBA survey (169 answers); set honey averaged £9.48 and heather honey £12.10. Check what is charged near you, at the gate, at markets and in farm shops.
  • £0.72 for a jar and lid: 72 standard 1 lb jars with gold lids, listed from £52 by a UK beekeeping supplier in October 2026. Labels, sugar and other costs are examples: replace them with your own.

Before you sell

Register as a food business with your council at least 28 days before trading, and label every prepacked jar with the name of the honey, the net weight in grams, a best before date, your name and address, the country of origin and a lot mark. The details, nation by nation, are in our guide to harvesting honey. Record each batch in the honey batch record.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge for a jar of local honey in the UK?

Look at what other beekeepers charge locally. The Scottish Beekeepers Association’s 2024 survey found an average of £10.24 for a 1 lb jar of runny honey, £9.48 for set honey and £12.10 for heather honey. Prices in shops include the retailer’s margin, so a beekeeper selling to a shop gets less per jar.

How much honey does one hive produce in the UK?

It varies hugely with the year, the region and the colony. The SBA’s 2024 survey found just under 22 lb (about 10 kg) of runny honey per hive in Scotland in a poor summer. The BBKA’s 2018 survey for England and Wales, a good year, found just over 30 lb (about 14 kg), and 41 lb in the East.

How many 1 lb jars does a super fill?

Weigh what you extract rather than counting supers: each kilogram fills 2.2 jars of 454 g. The Scottish Beekeepers Association read its 2024 average of about 22 lb per hive as roughly one super per colony, so a well filled National super gives some 20 to 25 one pound jars.

How should the weight be shown on a 1 lb honey jar?

In metric first: prepacked honey must carry its net quantity in grams or kilograms, in figures at least 4 mm high in most cases, so a 1 lb jar reads 454 g. You may add the imperial figure, 1 lb, as long as it is no more prominent than the metric one, according to Trading Standards guidance.

Do I need to register to sell honey?

Yes. The NBU states that anyone producing honey for sale must register their food business with the local authority. Registration is free and should be made at least 28 days before you start trading. It applies to selling at the gate, at markets, to shops and online.

Is it worth selling honey to shops?

It moves more jars but earns less per jar, because the shop adds its own margin on top of the price it pays you. Work out your trade price by entering it as the price per jar here, and compare the margin per hive with selling direct at the door or at a farmers’ market.

Sources

  1. 2024 Scottish Honey Survey results, Scottish Beekeepers Association
  2. 2018 honey harvest is a third bigger than last year’s, British Beekeepers Association
  3. Feeding bees: sugar (Best Practice Guideline No. 7a), Animal and Plant Health Agency, National Bee Unit
  4. Labelling of honey (quick guide, England and Wales), Business Companion, Trading Standards
  5. Starting a food business: register, GOV.UK
  6. Legal responsibility of beekeepers, Animal and Plant Health Agency, National Bee Unit
  7. 72 × 1 lb standard glass jars with gold lids (price checked October 2026), Abelo
  8. Honey pricing, The Apiarist

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