>>24386320I have no idea.
My mother is an amature and gives most of her honey away to friends and family. I can say that she only has like 4-5 hives that she keeps around her job and other hobbies, and last year those hives produced somewhere between 150 and 200 pints of honey. Take that as you will.
That was way more than she got in the past, because last year she moved her hives to the farm of a local farmer that our family knows in a beneficial arrangement to help pollinate his crops and get more honey. So that's a consideration.
However, given that generally a pint of honey can be sold for around 14$, she could have made around 2400-2500 USD off last year's load if she didn't just do it as a hobby and give it away. So I imagine it could be reasonably profitable if you have enough hives and a way to sell the honey for good value. The profits might be a bit more if you find someone to sell the wax to, as that has many uses. It certainly can be done, but I don't know if I'd call it lucrative, I don't know a lot about the industry.
I should also mention: apiary as a hobby, or knowing an apiarist will get you the best honey you've ever had. If you buy honey at the store, it's often "watered down" with sugar-water. The wildflower honey from my mother's hives is just plain better than the store-bought stuff, sweeter, richer, more flavor, just better in every way.
