On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 13:44:38 -0700, Mike Stoops <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I was talking with another bee person yesterday and we got to wondering,
what percentage of the bee population are foragers, what percentage guard
bees, nurse bees, etc.

No doubt Jerry is correct that it varies with hive size and season, but I
have read the estimate that about one third of the bees are field bees (in
summer I assume).  That would appear reasonable to me judging from the
apparent decrease in colony size that results from the position switch of a
strong and very weak colony (in the strong colony).

That leads to an interesting calculation:  At a pollination rental price of
say $125 per hive and a hive of 30,000 bees, (10,000 foragers), which is
about the blueberry standard, each forager is rented for one and a quarter
cents.  If a bumblebee hive has 160 bees and say 140 are foragers (they
definitely have less house bees) and sells for $70, then each bee bumblebee
forager is costing fifty cents.  Bumblebees are definitely far better
blueberry pollinators than honeybees, but are they forty times better?

Stan

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