Hello Giles & All,
I agree for the most part with Giles post but would like to address my "one
liner" which I knew would spark interest.

Bob said:
>California beekeepers are overpaid in my opinion  if one considers the cost
and risk involved with bringing bees from far away areas.

Giles said:
>Do we really want to believe that beekeepers are overpaid?

I never said "beekeepers" are overpaid. I am a commercial beekeeper.

 I was speaking to a situation which happened in California this year. The
subject of an article which should be in most mail boxes this week (April
Amercian Bee Journal).

 Beekeeper greed set up the problems in California this year. Prices last
year for most almond pollinators ran in the $65 a hive range (what our group
got) with a few people getting higher fees (we got a $100 a hive for some
last minute hives sold into almonds and four pound Australian package hives)
which you can read about in my article in the April 2005 ABJ.

The double prices plus asked of almond growers and brokers set in motion
hive strength standards of which all but a few beekeepers had trouble
meeting.

Almond brokers signed contracts for $150 a hive but in the fine print said
the hives needed to be 8-10 frames of bees as evaluated by *their
inspectors*. When many beekeepers arrived in California they found their
hives did not meet the requirments and the whole load was rejected (although
they were the same strength as did the bumper pollination of the year before
in many cases?????).

Some points to consider about California beekeepers charges ( as told to me
by almond growers pissed off). Some almond growers  compared California
beekeepers pricing in 2006 to oil company pricing at the gas pump. Record
profits! They did understand higher prices for out of state beekeepers (up
to a point).

California beekeepers will say " a hive is a hive regardless of origin and
the high price rewards the beekeeper with the best hives".

Almond growers have got the opposite opinion.

Here in lies the problem.

Almond growers position:

1. close to beekeepers in most cases so no expensive trucking charges.

2. large buildup which they use to their advantage to make splits.

3. They rent the same hives into Cherries, plums and other orchards for from
$10 to $35 bucks ( yet they feel the almond growers need to pay $150).

Out of turmoil comes change (hopefully).

Bob

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