>My point was that the number of warehouses east of the Mississippi alone

> proves that nothing close to 99% of the hives are owned by 1% of the
> beekeepers.
>

Thanks Jim, understood your point completely.  I'm currently at the Calif
State convention, and had the opportunity to ask one of the major suppliers
what his estimate was of the percentage of his company's sales were going
to recreational beekeepers.  He guesstimate was about 30%.

However, he also told me that as our industry consolidates, that the number
of operations running over 20,000 hives was surprisingly large.  Those guys
often do not purchase through the "normal" channels--they may buy feed
directly by the carload, have lumber custom milled, etc.

So during this bubble of newbie beekeeping, perhaps the 63% commercial, 24%
sideliner, 13% recreational breakdown is more realistic than 99%, 1%.



-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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