Here's some good questions I recently received from a vet that I thought I'd share:
Q: What is an appropriate charge for a visit? I've looked on VIN and seen people saying around $90, also, how do we find clients? Is there a directory? Or a group to have our names involved in?
A: Regarding cost, it’s a good, common, and challenging question. I think that it is also a very personal question and depends on many factors including: what do you normally charge for farm/house calls? what is your relationship with that client? what are you doing for the client? what type of beekeeper (commercial, backyard)? but first and foremost, what is your level of “expertise”?
The VCPR requires that we have adequate knowledge of our patient before entering the relationship. I believe vets (including myself) need to educate ourselves and spend some time shadowing beekeepers to allow us to feel confident working with this new field. I would recommend joining the state and/or local bee club, introduce yourself as a vet, and start developing relationships… get names of the “locals”. You should also introduce yourself to local bee PDA inspector. You could poll your current clients to see how many have backyard hives- you might be surprised.
One of my goals is to create geographical network list of all the vets in PA who are re-educating themselves and interested in working with bees, which I could share with the PDA and the PA State Beekeepers. People to bee to people connections.