Hello Keith & All,

Beekeeping is always local. Even in commercial beekeepers the area you are
in and your needs bee wise enter in to the methods you use.

>We have had great success with triples.

In out area those which use triples do so only to winter. The problem with
triples can also be said for doubles at times. In a poor honey year most of
your honey production can end up in your brood nest.

1) it gives you two seams to feed pollen,  between 1-2,  2-3 , we can get
about 12 pounds per box this way and only have to service them twice this
way.

24 pound of pollen patty? I realize you guys have not got a choice as I have
wintered bees in California (near Kermin) and zero pollen & nectar came in.

 However in many areas we simply drop the bees into a heavy fall flow (such
as heartsease in the Black Water River bottoms near me) and the bees plug
the box with brood/bees/ pollen and nectar. Zero cost and labor except for
the trucking (40 mile round trip).

2) we can syrup feed heavy and not worry about plugging out the queen, which
also saves time.

Again a strong fall flow can help with heavy feeding. I looked for these
when we went to California. Could not find any around the valley. The only
option then was to feed both pollen & syrup. We heard rumors of fall honey
in the North but did not pursue the idea.

The best option and worked the best for both us and the almond grower ( said
he had the best bees he had in years) was to truck bees into strong fall
flows in
Texas, winter in Texas and then truck into California. The plus side was
Texas was only a stop on the way to almond pollination and after almonds the
bees were trucked back into the Midwest ( saving the cost of a return trip
from Texas but involved one extra loading & unloading beside placement in
almonds).

The beekeeper which wrote about the crystallized honey in comb has a problem
many see with fall honey coming in from certain plants. Spanish nettle,
asters & heartsease make an excellent honey for bees to winter on in our
area. We move away from Goldenrod if possible for wintering.

3) but the real sweet deal is you can spit them before the almonds, fill up
your D.O. in Jan and shake all spring long while most are making up
increase.

This is a good deal. Part of the problem with almond pollination is the time
of year it happens for out of state beekeepers.  Most bees are at their
weakest point of the season (unless given the things Keith has said and
written about).
The beekeepers in states close to California are keen on almond pollination
which I would expect as once the bugs are worked out almonds can be an
important part of their income. Logistics get harder the farther away you
are. Especially with overwintered colonies.
The biggest success from a long distance for southern beekeepers to almonds
has been in making up singles by cramming a frame of honey , 8 or nine brood
and so many bees you can barely get the lid on. These go right into almonds
and have brought the full price. The beekeepers say they care little what
they look like when they return as long as they get their equipment back as
they will equalize the mess when they return.

In Australia queen producers move their hives around five times on average
looking for nectar & pollen. The producer I spoke with has seen pollen
analysis on different plants which help in decided which area to migrate to.
Trucking in their opinion is cheaper than feeding and with the right pollen
source produces better results. The person I spoke with said a few years
back Australia had a "disappearing "type problem which their researchers
traced to poor pollen from certain plants. Maybe Trevor will comment?

Tests ( Weslaco bee lab) on the radiated pollen out of China which is
fueling feedlot beekeeping has been disappointing . Not a lot of nutritional
value but DOES make the patty appeal to the bees better. Quite a bit of
research is going
on now on nutritional needs of bees. The NHB funded a new research program
on bee nutrition for 2007.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Missouri



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