Hello Ron,
Ron wrote:
 Six hives of bees were placed in a strawberry field prior to March 1st.  At
 that time there were very few strawberry blossums.  Since the 1st we have
 had about 2 weeks of very cold days and some rain.  The patch has not
 produced as in other years and the grower thinks he has partial
pollination.
 During this time the Blueberry and early peaches were also blossuming.  The
 early peaches were lost due to hard freezes.  Any thoughts about how much
of  a strawberry fields get  pollinated by honey bees or results of problems
such as this.
 The days the bees can fly are the only days to count for polination. In
certain years we have only had a couple days the bees have been able to work
the Apple blossoms and the Apples got polinated. You didn't say how big the
field was you were trying to polinate so can't really say if 6 hives are
enough. I will say anytime you have got more than one bloom going on at the
same time you can get a polination problem. Bees prefer one source over the
other. The solution is to provide extra hives if there is any doubt. Bees
prefer Apple blooms over Pear blooms because of the sugar content of the
nectar.  Our Apple orchards mow ground cover blooms under the trees prior to
setting the hives to encourage the bees to work the Apple blossoms and not
the clover and dandelions.
Bob