Hi Ian

> What $$ do you contract your hives for pollination?

US$65+VAT

> I have heard blueberry pollination is stressfull on the bee hives, due to
> the flowers lack in nutrients ect...
> Are all these comments on blueberry pollination correct?

They are probably rigth. Blueberry polen have 13% protein content.
Colonies do not gain weigth, I need to feed them upto when the plants
are close to 20 - 25% bloom and bees prefer any other plant as soon as
they bloom.

Usually the pollination window is close to 15 days, cause most years
Eucaliptus globulus (plantations) start blooming and on some year I
have canola plantation as neighbour and my bees prefer to go to those
flowers.

I have analyzed the polen content of the first honey harvest after
blueberry pollination. One can find only traces of blueberry pollen
(less than 1%) but over 60% of the pollen come from Eucaliptus.

Blueberry in my latitude (-39º) is an early bloom. therefore we use 6
beehive per hectare plus 3 bombus colonies. They are a perfect couple
for pollinating bluberries in the south of Chile.

> Do you experience this?  How do you manage your hives to prevent run down?
> What kind of a return do you see from blueberry pollination?

Only the pollination fee.

> What other flows do you chase in the south?

After blueberry I move my hive some 200km south to the mountains with
Valdivian Temperate Rain Forest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdivian_temperate_rain_forests

There I usually have three honey flows: Tineo (Weinmannia
trichosperma), Tiaca (Cladcluvia paniculata) and Ulmo (Eucryptia
cordifolia). Each year one of the flows fails (less than 15 kg/hive)
while the other two are really good.

This year for example I harvest an average of 80 kg per hive, Tineo :
15 kg, Tiaca 45 kg and Ulmo 20 kg.

I only drove 450 hives, cause the rest was use for split and grow.

PS:An other volcano is erupting in the far south of Chile / Chaiten
the scene in the news are amazing.
-- 
Juanse Barros J.
APIZUR S.A.
Carrera 695
Gorbea - CHILE
+56-45-271693
08-3613310
http://apiaraucania.blogspot.com/
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