To anybody who wants to listen,

So far what I read from  Bob H. is not accurate.All I hear is  whining. Almond growers in recent years couldn't afford dormant spray. Now soft shell is around  $2.30 a pound, yes it's dropped over one dollar a pound in the last two weeks. But that is not my point. Bees now will shed up to 50% due to the mites. So just because you have a 9 frame cluster DOES NOT MEAN YOU WILL HAVE IT IN THE FIELD AFTER 10 DAYS OF FLIGHT DUE TO SCARRING.

I was down today canning bees , I stopped to look at some bees in other fields, three frames, I went to the next field,  those shake bees lucky if they were four, all from out of state. I've got a friend right now that is sitting on two thousand hives .He lives twenty miles from me or about sixty from where he used to set them in the almonds, but out-of staters undercut him on price by thirty dollars. Mike and I looked at those bees, 4-6 frames, Mike's bees are 9-10 ( Mike listens to me and feeds pollen all winter). I've not heard one OUT-OF-STATER who has fed pollen all winter, but I do hear the whining.

 P.S my Family grows Almonds Fourth Generation.

  Keith Jarrett
California Natural

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