Good questions.  We went through 15 drafts to come up with something that
was relatively simple, and that the Ag Commissioner, hobby, and commercial
beekeepers would all strongly support.

>Do you think requiring registered apiary sites be occupied to maintain
> seniority for their locations is important?

Yes.  If fewer than 10 colonies are kept there in a year, the protection
from encroachment for that site is lost.


> How did you determine the 48 hive limit?
>
We set an arbitrary 2-mile distance between registered locations for
commercial beekeepers.  We generally keep 24 hives in a location, due to
our lack of good forage.  The 48-hive limit was to make it less attractive
for an out-of-county beekeeper to drop a full truckload of hives, and would
allow enough forage for the hobby beekeepers within that range.

As our Ag Commissioner pointed out, it is us small commercial operators who
will protect the hobbyists, since we already have locations every two miles
in popular areas.

> What does your ordinance stipulate as appropriate spacing between 10+
sites?
2 miles.  We debated different distances, but this worked out best for all,
and was based upon our experience.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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