Brian said
>I've taken some flack on my views that almonds are ruining beekeeping as we
new it in the USA. Idon't feel the practice is sustainable.

Hi Brian,

I speak from the perspective of a California native who has been pollinating
almonds for over 25 years.  I have no intention of giving you any flack.

The question of sustainability will be determined by the market. The cost of
fuel, the supply of healthy colonies in the West, and the market prices for
honey and almonds will be the main determinants.

Without the shot in the arm from almond pollination income, many large
beekeepers would no longer be in business (as Bob has explained).  However,
with fuel costs up, and honey prices up, many midwesterners will find it
more cost effective, and possibly less of a gamble, to simply stay home and
make honey.

As a California beekeeper, I'd love to see them stay home, since that would
decrease the supply of bees available for pollination, and help my bottom
line.  But the market will then adjust the offered price for bees until it
is worthwhile for (either or both) we Westerners to increase the supply, or
to lure Midwesterners to haul their bees across the country.

The simple facts are that almonds can be successfully grown in only a few
places on the planet, that the current market varieties require bees for
pollination, and that there currently aren't enough colonies managed by
California beekeepers to do the job.  Since no one is going to tell the
almond growers that they can only rent in-state bees, we California
beekeepers accept the fact that loads of bees carrying every conceivable
disease will be trucked into our state each year.

>Pettis advises some beekeepers may do well to forgo the almond pollination
and rest their

> bees. "You are getting them ready for February when the sunlight hours and
> the temperature are telling them it's too early in the year to be foraging
> at full strength,"


This is simply not true for colonies living in California (or for those
brought here in the fall).  February is springtime here, and the forage
season is over by July 1.  If colonies don't build up naturally in February,
they won't make it through the next winter.

>
> >The bee broker Joe Traynor says the deception goes much further than
> trucking bees south. "We're interfering with their natural cycle because we
> want strong colonies for almond pollination. We're stimulating hives in
> August, September and October, and making the queens do a lot more laying.


I have a hard time with this statement (Joe is a friend of mine).  The
"deceptive" feeding from Aug through October simply mimics the natural
nectar and pollen flows that occur during those months east of the Rockies.
California is a lousy place to keep bees during those months (which is why I
move most of my colonies to better pasture).  Am I "deceiving" my bees by
putting them on good summer/fall pasture that provides plenty of natural
pollen and nectar?

That said, queens do reach the end of their optimal productive life sooner
if their season is extended.  Kleinschmidt found that a queen is good for
about two major buildups, and seldom lasts through the third.  So yes,
queens may supersede, or need to be replaced more often, just as a truck
that is driven twice as many miles a year will need to be replaced sooner.



> >Moreover, scientists funded by the Almond Board of California are now
> experimenting with
> artificial pheromones that trick bees into thinking there are more larvae
> in the hive that need
> feeding, so they forage more, and in the process pollinate more almond
> blossom.


This pheromone is being looked at warily by beekeepers.  I was at a recent
funding meeting.  I proposed that a trial already being funded add
additional data collection to determine if the use of the pheromone was
detrimental to colonies after they left almond pollination.  The researcher
was invited to quickly submit a revised proposal, which was accepted.

>
>
> >This is the Almond Board's profit-driven response to a potential shortfall
> of honeybees: to work even harder those that remain.


It is not the Almond Board's concern to micromanage how we keep our
bees--that is up to beekeepers.  Conversely, it is not my concern as to how
they prune or water their trees.  If a beekeeper, in the quest for
short-term profit, causes harm to his colony, it will show up in his profits
the following season.  Again, the market will answer the question.

I do ask the rhetorical question, Can bees be overworked?  It is not like we
are confining them like laying hens in wire cages, nor whipping them forward
like draft horses.  Bees work.  Colonies build up when there is forage.  Is
our moving them from pasture to pasture, or supplementing their diet when
natural forage is scarce some form of animal abuse?

Moving bees to almond pollination can be of great benefit to colonies.  We
used to do it for free in California, since the bees came out in such great
shape.  Almond pollination is certainly not without its problems, but I do
not feel that it deserves any sort of blanket condemnation.

Randy Oliver

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************