Though Scott's the question wasn't directed to me and it is raining so I
have some extra time today I will reply.

I pretty much do the same as Grant with a lot of my hives but on the truck
farms I do ask for some food in exchange for the bees being there. It is a
verbal agreement, I get to leave the hives 24/7 with 100% truck access. I
may get 1/2 bushel of cucumbers or tomatoes near the end of the season,
just something to pay me for being reliable as far having strong hives
there to get the pollination done. The farms do not spray, we have a very
strong organic association in Maine that really puts time into education.

The crops on these farm are all the types of vegetables you would find at a
farmers market along with a lot of cut flowers, things like smaller
sunflowers, asters, delphinium and such to sell in small bouquets. They
grow a lot of those short sunflowers with the smaller head and my bees are
usually all over them making the field workers nervous. The nectar sources
around the farms are good, there are wide swaths with power lines, hay
fields and wooded areas that have early pollen from trees. The hive
production varies year to year because of weather, this year we are having
a lot of rainy days, but it usually is 65 to 35 pounds for each hive which
is decent for Maine. I do treat for mites, usually with formic acid, Mite
Away II in the past, MAQS now, ApiGuard, and used some Hopguard last summer
just to knock down the mites since we had such a warm winter. I use pollen
patties on every hive in the early spring and fall, feed in the fall, some
hives need candy boards in the winter, some need syrup in the spring.
Feeding is by the need of each hive. I have not used an antibiotic on my
hives in years, I do put some bleach in the syrup, mainly to prevent mold.

One thing I recommend to people keeping bees in out yards is to write your
name and cell phone number on a few of the boxes on different sides in big
letters (no one wants to get close to the hive to read), because they will
call you if something is up. I try to prevent swarming but it doesn't
always work, the field crew always will call to tell me "the queen has left
the hive". I had a lady call me last week who had a swarm in her yard that
had not landed yet they came from somewhere in her neighborhood and she
said, "I think I have a queen bee in my yard", it took some questioning to
find out what she was talking about. I find it funny that some people do
not use the word swarm.

The discussion on Bee-L about Pierco foundation earlier this year got me
brave enough to try it. It is so easy to use and the bees are doing fine on
it. I got the black 9 5/8 and snapped it into grooved frames, I started out
rolling them with extra wax, I did 200 of them and then just couldn't spend
the time doing it so the last 100 are going in with no extra wax. I guess I
will see if it makes a difference. I also got some white for shallow supers
and was disappointed it was just cut down from larger pieces so one edge
would not fit into grooved frames, I had to use wedged, a little more time
consuming. I still like using wooden frames.

Right now I have 65 hives.

Karen T-K
Maine

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