>Tell us about movng bees to almonds....  How do you move them, what

> equipment?  Any 'adventures' this year????  How do your bees look?


Bill, I'm small scale compared to the "big boys."  We move hives down on 12
ft flatbed trucks (72 hives a load) with hive loaders (we try to caravan at
least two trucks in case of mishap).

On Day 1 of moving, we had several mechanical issues after the hives were
loaded--had to put a lawn sprinkler over one truck to keep the bees in the
boxes and replace the water pump in order to replace a radiator hose (bad
design!). Of course, we also had a hoist motor burn out and some switch
issues--none of these things could have happened earlier in the
season--they always wait until the critical move in window!

We live in the foothills, so we got one light snowstorm while loading,
which allowed us to load during daylight.  So far, no mud issues due to a
dry winter in Calif. (bad news for our honeyflow).

In general, most beekeepers' bees look poorer than normal.  Lots of junk
being delivered to the orchards.  Some unscrupulous beekeepers splitting
hives into worthless queenless splits simply to make count for boxes with
bees flying out of the entrance.

Scuttlebutt is that bee supply will be short, with some growers getting
nasty surprises this week.  This will cause hard feelings, since nut prices
are set to rise substantially, and growers want to set a better crop than
last season.

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

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