Why are Almonds....

[Hambone]

The cash crop? I am not commercial or plan to be, but the commercial money crop seems to be Almonds. Most of the talk in these threads are Almonds. The up's and downs of the Almonds. I know ya'll move off the Almonds to other pollination jobs. But why is there no hub bub about Apples, Oranges, Pumpkins, Melons, ect...? Just curious.

[alpha6]

I think that Almonds are a topic because of the amount of bees that must be shipped to Calf. for pollination. It is the largest migratory of bees in the US and probably the world. True there are beeks that pollinate oranges and apples, but usually these beeks live near those areas. Some migration takes place for blueberries and cranberries and other corps but nothing near the scale of almonds.

[Countryboy]

When you look at the pay for almond pollination, and the number of hives moved - I don't think any other pollination stacks up the same financially. And $$ is what controls the commercial guys - if the largest chunk of the money pie is in almonds, you have to go where the money is.

[LSPender]

Also the time of year, Feb & March, when the hives are in winter mode and beeks are at the lowest # of hives they run. Ather pollinations happen when the bee hives are in spring growth and the # of hives avaiable is increasing.

[Terry Small, Jr]

It's the money. We shipped about 3000 colonies to the almonds at about $130 each. That's how Dave makes sure my paycheck doesn't bounce.

[JohnK and Sheri]

Yes, the top dollar is definitely a plus and has lots of beeks talking but the bottom dollar is the one you get after the labor, the broker, the trucking, the meds, the $$ spent on the road, the dinks that get shook, etc. Can still be a nice pay check but everything has to go right. Figuring out how to avoid the things that go wrong is what much of the chatter is about.
Sheri

[TwT]

I always thought its because that crop in the California was the largest in the world, almonds I dont think are grown wide spread and are grown by most every country like fruits and other nuts are, you can get apples from different countries anytime but I think almonds are only grown in a few countries and this country has the largest crop . just what I always thought!!

[sqkcrk]

Would it be fair to say that blueberrys are next in line? Then what? Apples or cherries or what?

[Asthor]

I have to ask as a new beekeeper on the otherside of the world, (Sweden) where moving bees for pollination alone is almost none existing, will you get any honey of the almonds or is it just pollination?
The reason I ask is becouse in Sweden no one (or close to no one) move behives just for pollination, I have read about prices per hive being as "high" as 30$/hive for pollination and you could easely make 5-800$ for the honey a normal hive makes thus not worth it and most beekeepers only move hives for pollination if they can get a large amount of honey from it.

/Asthor

[tecumseh]

at the time of the year that bees are used for pollination in the almond almost all the nectar goes toward brood building. I have been told that the honey produced by almonds is not consumable by humans.

with almonds one only needs to follow the dollars. the dollar value for pollination is (as far as I can tell) due to a number of factors. the necessity of pollination by bees or bugs to insure a crop*, the unseasonal early period when pollination is required, and the lack of habitat for any feral hives to do the job (even marginally).

*the yes or no of this has been economically established so the value of using bees as pollinators is firmly established... ie you can pencil in a $ figure for the loss in product if you do not use bees for pollination purposes.

[Asthor]

I wasent concidering that almond pollination is during the buildup, becouse we a somewhat diffrent season in Sweden, kinda short tbh, but thanks for clearing it up for me.

/Asthor

[jjgbee]

Don't know the price of honey in Sweden. When in Switzerland it was going for $25.00 lb US. If I could get $12.50 per lb whosale, I wouldn't have bothered with pollination either. Honey goes for $1.40 whsl. if you are lucky here.

[Asthor]

You can atleast get 10$/kg so thats like 40$/lb to consumer I am charging 25$/kg so about 100$/lb but I can do that only in pretty small volyumes about 1T (250lbs).
If you sell honey that has been slinged in 28kg buckets to a honey producer you can charge about 3.5$/kg or 14$/lb but that involves alot less work so it will be worth it if you are doing it large scale.
And if you are lazy you can do something called "Lego slinging" for about 20 cent/kg or 80 cent/lb and someone will sling it for you so you only have to bottle it wich can reduce your costs for machines etc. this is what I am doing.

/Asthor

[ScadsOBees]

There's shipping costs, the stress on the hive and hive losses, and sheer volume.

Lots of money, but no thanks, that'd never be the life for me and my bees.

[BEES4U]

Stess:
There is also the stress of the up-coming hive inspection.
I know of a bee broker that will noy use a written contract so that he can escape the back lash of hives that are ubder their frame count.
No contract no bees!
Ernie

[Countryboy]

You can atleast get 10$/kg so thats like 40$/lb to consumer

There are 2.2 lbs in 1 kilogram, not 4 kg in 1 lb.

$10/kg is $4.55/lb, not $40.00/lb.
$25/kg is $11.36/lb, not $100.00/lb.
$3.50/kg is $1.59/lb, not $14.00/lb.
$0.20/kg is $0.09/lb, not $0.80/lb.

[Asthor]

he he sorry I was thinking about gallons :)