[log in to unmask] (Kelley Rosenlund :
 
>        After helping my beekeeping friend move 140 HEAVY hives I now see
the wisdom of 8 frames over ten.
 
   I use ten frame, mostly because that was available to me when I started.
 Most of them go out to pollination with one super. Some of them wind up at
the end of the season with the queen above the excluder, which makes a lot of
extra work.  I've often thought I should have 8 frame doubles, which would
make much easier management with all frames the same.
 
   If your friend is moving HEAVY hives to pollination, his queens are
probably shutting down, and they aren't going to do a very good job. For crop
pollination you want the queen going full bore, so the hive needs protein
(pollen) to feed all that young brood.  Studies show that a bee which is
deliberately gathering pollen is as much as ten times more efficient at
pollination than one who's gathering nectar.
 
   One of my growers has a few hives of his own.  He complained that his own
hives wouldn't work the crop, because they hadn't been moved in, and they'd
gotten habituated to other things beforehand, so they didn't work the crop.
 The truth was that they weren't working anything. They had sat honeybound
and were dwindling down during the crop bloom.
 
   Singles should go to vine crops with 1 1/2 to 2 frames of honey maximum in
the brood chamber.  I like to have one frame of honey, 5-7 frames of brood of
all ages, and 2-3 empty combs, to keep the queen laying.  Then I try to get
one or two shallow frames of honey in the super.  Any honey flows here after
vine crop bloom are very spotty.  I want them to have enough honey so they
won't starve, enough room so they can put in some honey if it comes, and
plenty of brood space.  If they should get honey bound in the brood chamber,
I'm not doing my job. Plus the bees will dwindle badly, and they won't be in
shape to do a fall pollination.
 
>Also here in Florida the watermelon farmers pay $20.00 a hive. How much do
you all get?
 
   $20 is not enough to pay for the management they need to do good
pollination.  Some of the south Florida guys are only getting $25, but they
are supering for citrus too.  If you are really serious about pollination, and
 are managing the bees to that end, $30-35 is more realistic.  You might have
to do some educating for farmers to realize the difference in management, and
its value to them.
 
   Help me get a grower mailing list in your area, if you'd like, and I'll
help educate them. I'll send them some info (freebies), and an invite to
subscribe to the pollination newsletter.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1215, Hemingway, SC  29554