Hi Bob,

Write a great article, and get the honest information out there so no one
gets hurt, and we can all get along as beekeepers, and keep a good
grower-to-beekeeper relationship.  The beekeeping industry is riding on the
almond growers' coattails, and it is in both of our best interests to work
together to solve our problems, i.e., supplying bees for pollination, and
dealing with Varroa and other bee problems.  The almond growers have stepped
up to the plate by financing a huge amount of bee research, and by offering
us more money.  It's up to the beekeepers to supply them strong, healthy
colonies at a reasonable price.  "Reasonable" means that we must be able to
stay in business.  As one participant at a Calif meeting earlier this year
said (something to the effect of), "my livelihood depends upon the income
from 1000 colonies.  When the price of honey is down, it's up to almonds to
make up the difference.  If, due to Varroa, viruses, drought, etc. I only
can keep 500 colonies strong, I need to double my pollination price just to
stay even."  The almond growers need to understand that beekeepers aren't
gouging them, we're just trying to stay in business!

Another addition to the almond problem:  Education

Educate the almond growers about the big difference between renting boxes
and renting bees!  Many have become much more educated in the past 10 years
re frame strength.  There is conflicting research as to optimum, but a
stronger colony has many more foragers available to fly than a weaker colony
that needs to devote its workers to keeping the brood nest warm and fed.  On
cold days in the almonds, a 12-frame colony will be flying like mad, when a
6-framer is huddled up (there is also a huge genetic variability for
cool-weather flight, with dark bees often flying when Italians are inside on
the sofa).  IMHO, a 4-framer or less is junk, and an 8-framer is the minimum
size to take in.  Note that I'm not saying 8-frame average, but 8-frame
minimum!  Averages include some non-pollinating junk.

Some years ago, unscrupulous beekeepers (yes, there are a few) would take in
honey-filled deadouts, and charge for them as "colonies," knowing that
robbing bees flying in and out would show a lot of activity that would food
an unsuspecting grower.  In fact, those hives actually diverted bees away
from pollination!  This really pissed off the grower if he found out.

In response, respectible brokers like Joe Traynor, Mike Rosso, and others
set up grading programs, so almond growers could actually get what they were
paying for (and reward beekeepers who had strong bees).

As far as "California grading," on a double deep, with most of the cluster
in the top box, you will see a 2" band of bees at the top of the lower
frames if you split the boxes.  They don't count as frames of bees!  You
must look at each box from both top and bottom to see how many frames are
fully covered!  Colonies without frames of emerging sealed brood just before
move in will dwindle, as well as queenless, drone layers, and AFB infested.
 You gotta look at your bees!

Yes, I'm making $150 for my colonies, but I work hard to get
there--management, feeding tons of pollen in the Fall, and lots of labor
time.  I earn my money by being a bee keeper, not a box jockey.

You also need to breed for stock that builds up early!  I have 12-frame
colonies with 6 or more frames of sealed brood on February 10th.  If you
midwest guys had that, your bees would starve before the snow melted! 
However, you have great Fall pollen flows that we don't have, and strong
midwestern colonies can build up early with the right management and timing.

BTW, by my math, an individual honeybee worker now hires out for about 1¢
for the month of almond bloom!  ($15 per 70% covered frame, 2 frames/ lb of
bees, ~3500 bees/lb = 1¢ per bee)

Randy Oliver
Calif

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