Just curious

[sebee]

People who have several hundred hives and dont make money by pollination, where do they keep all the hives? How many hives can one keep in a given area? Someday I would like to have many more hives than I do now, but Im not sure the amount of land I have could support more than a few dozen. How do people do it?

[alpha6]

Most commercial guys work with farmers and ranchers and keep their "out yards" at these locations. You can run several thousand hives if you have enough locations and a big enough area. You would have to be fairly rich to actually own enough land to run even a couple of hundred hives if you didn't work with the locals. In the winter the hives are brought to "holding" or "wintering" yards which makes it easier to feed and shield against the cold.

[Beeslave]

Or you go south to chase the flow(nectar and/or pollen) and find warmer, easier wintering locations. Chasing it north all summer then repeat all over again. You don't just need to find a place someone will let you place the hives. You need to find the nectar sources then find people in the area that will allow you space to place them.

[sebee]

Good to know. Thanks for the replies. I've heard of a few people who (in the suburbs) take care of other peoples hives for an income, this seems like it would be difficult to be profitable since most people only keep a few hives at most. Anyone know anything about that?

[alpha6]

Talk to Chef. I think he runs a similar program...but you rent the hives from him or something of that nature. He would be able to let you know what the costs vs profit are in something like that.