>varroa  mites tolerant to their treatments and

> Varroa tolerant mites?

I think the list understood what I met but if not I meant "varroa mites
tolerant to their treatments"


 Given a high enough
>> offered price, hives seem to come out of the woodwork.
>> The growers largely follow the bee supply of the previous season, rather
>> than truly investigate the current supply. Since last season bees came up
>> short at the last moment, growers are willing to offer more this year.

The problem with the above is it is not a viable solution to the problem.

Almond growers have not been leveled with and *in my opinion* have been sold
that only hives with 8 plus frames of bees (or as I termed * bees by the
pound*) will pollinate almonds. I could name names but the last time I did I
created an uproar so will not!

Almond growers have forgot the many years field run bees did their
pollination with the result bumper crops. Fact!

Growers need a reality check all across the U.S.. first using apples as an
example an acre of apples with 100's of trees together and many crates of
apples produced the hive cost usually is one large orchard crate per acre.
Hives are still cheap!

During the Viet Nam war I ran a very lucrative scrap metal business. I
always complained at the larger metal buyer as to why the tractor trailer
trucks bringing in metal from over 100 miles away was being paid .50 a
hundred weight more than our tractor trailer loads. A serious money
difference for the same material.

Their answer was always that to get the metal needed for the war effort a
premium had to be paid for the extra cost of transportation. Metal salvage
is high today and similar prices are in effect.

Using the same philosophy why would a beekeeper shipping hives from the east
coast ( 6000 mile round trip)

 get the same price as the beekeeper which lives within fifty miles of the
almond grove?

I remember a decade ago a blueberry grower with 10 acres of blueberries
called and said he just learned he needed bees to produce blue berries and
could not find hives to pollinate with. Duh!

Another time a fellow planted 3000 peach trees in our area without a way to
water the young trees. Needless to say his effort failed.

My point is growers keep planting almond trees without a *real* source of
hives for pollination.

The hypothesis put forward by Randy that if the price for 8 frame average
hives is increased the hives will appear is not realistic in my opinion.

A very unrealistic approach to a serious future problem!

bob

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