Pollenation and less honey

[McCheyne]

I have heard that if you are commercially pollinating, your return on honey is less than if you didn't pollinate.. I was wondering what are the reasons for this?

Cheers,

Mccheyne

[greenbeekeeping]

competition, moving stresses and so on. Moving bees always sets them back a bit and there is alot of foraging competion when you may have 40-60 hives all within a field of one another.

[Tom G. Laury]

Plus you have to give the farmer half of the honey the bees make!

[Keith Jarrett]

Plus you have to give the farmer half of the honey !

Well gee, the only thing I give the farmer is the BILL.

[McCheyne]

ahh.. yeah, I guess it would there be some competition for the flowers. How does the setup normally work in the placement of the hives? Can you place all your beeshives in the center of the field to be pollinated or are they normally broken down into groups of X amount around the area in quadrants and such?

[Tom G. Laury]

No butter, just the bill?

[greenbeekeeping]

Hey Tom. I hope you don't mean that. I just give them the bill too. I may give them a 5lb jar.

On placement. It is usually determined by the grower.

[high rate of speed]

Half the honey not,maybe 40lbs.
pollination,just give them the bill.

[Tom G. Laury]

No I didn't mean that seriously; it just kills me when someone asks how much I "make" pollinating, and then says "and you get to keep the honey too?"

[IndianaHoney]

Hey Tom, how much do you make pollinating? Just curious because I'm starting to get into pollination. What do most commercial guys charge for pollination? I know it's dependant on the crop, but I have no idea as to what I should be charging.

Oh, and I won't ask if you get to keep the honey too

Thanks,
Gary

[Tom G. Laury]

Hi Gary

This spring I charged $140 for almond pollination with 8 frame AVERAGE. That means you can have a few weak ones. For $150+ I don't think the growers want to see any weak ones. After almonds lots of bees are looking for a home, and some later blooming crops need pollination. $20 is common for this, some more and some less, depending on how many. In the summer people do some as low as $15, but typically get to move some to a second placement for another $15. Some crops like seed alfalfa are killing fields for the bees and must pay more, 30-50$. I really can't remember the last time I did any summer pollination myself. The bees get sprayed, vandalized, starved and run over by trucks and tractors.

[greenbeekeeping]

Ok Tom, I thought you were just joking.

IndianaHoney. Here in Indiana I charge $50per hive for most crops with a 4 hive minimum. If they take a load I will go down in price.

[BerkeyDavid]

Hey Tom, how much do you make pollinating? Just curious because I'm starting to get into pollination. What do most commercial guys charge for pollination? I know it's dependant on the crop, but I have no idea as to what I should be charging.

Oh, and I won't ask if you get to keep the honey too

Thanks,
Gary

Gary

I get $50/hive. I am very small, just talking 10 hives this year, maybe 20 next. But it makes a difference on the bottom line. Some spots are better than others for honey.

[IndianaHoney]

WOW Tom! I don't see how you can afford to pay for fuel to move those hives. I started pollinating some pumpkins this year, and charged 50 per hive, my first pollination contract. Summer crops are my target contracts because I don't have enough hives to truck over for Almonds.

I've heard that some people are charging 90 for blueberrys in Main, 50-75 per hive here in Indiana, and I've heard of people charging as low as 10 per hive else where. My goal is to eventually pollinate across Indiana, Ohio, and then start moving hives across the states for other pollination.

If this turns out to be a good winter, I plan to expand my operation to almost a hundred hives next year. It would be nice if I could get all those out for pollination so I can afford more equipment for 2010.

[sqkcrk]

Hey Tom, how much do you make pollinating? Just curious because I'm starting to get into pollination. What do most commercial guys charge for pollination? I know it's dependant on the crop, but I have no idea as to what I should be charging.

Oh, and I won't ask if you get to keep the honey too

Thanks,
Gary

You should be charging $100.00 per colony. Then when the rest of us visit the same grower and ask $50.00 or $60.00 they won't complain as much.

[Tom G. Laury]

How do you afford the fuel?

Well those bees aren't getting moved very far, and the ranches take them by the hundreds and thousands. Generally within flight of nectar sources. Lots of competition for the job even at that rate! On the other hand, how can you afford to take four for $50 ea $200 total? That 200 will get used op pretty fast?

[sqkcrk]

I've heard that some people are charging 90 for blueberrys in Main, 50-75 per hive here in Indiana, and I've heard of people charging as low as 10 per hive else where.

I don't mean to sound picky, but charging is what one does when one is in the drivers seat, in control in other words. The way I hear it, as far as Maine is concerned, is that the growers there are offering to pay $90.00 plus, depending on the grower and the frames of brood and bees. You have to know someopne too, in order to get work for your bees.

I get what I feel is worth it or I don't go. So far, here in NY, I've gotten apple pollination up to $50.00 per colony. If I try to go to $60.00 next spring I expect to see some resistence.

[Tom G. Laury]

You got it!!!

[sqkcrk]

You got it!!!

Now how do I get rid of it?

[IndianaHoney]

On the other hand, how can you afford to take four for $50 ea $200 total? That 200 will get used op pretty fast?

It was my first contract, and I hope that word will spread that I do pollination. Besides that, I moved them 20 miles, and should only have to take three trips total to get them ready for winter, and I moved them myself without having to pay someone, so my cost is fairly low. I'll leave them there until spring, then move them back.

I have almost fourty hives, so hundreds or thousands is just not an option for me. Next year I plan to have a 10 hive minimum, and have at least 50 hives available for pollination.

Tom, I just took a look at your profile. I understand that in your stomping grounds there is lots of compitition? As for me, we have only three commercial beeks in Indiana that I am aware of. I suspect there is plenty of room for another.