depends on what you can work out with the orchard/how they spray. I worked out a deal with two orchards, I put in 1/2 the number of hives that he normally brought in the first year, left them permananetly, if he was satisfied with the pollination he paid me what he normally paid. I put in only three deep brood chambers, the hives never left the orchard again. as the price for polination went up I left my price below what they were charging, I made money and he saved money. and on top of that he retailed my honey.
the key is how they spray, both orchards used imidan and sprayed after dark, and I conviced them to mow the weeds/grass b/4 spraying and never had a problem.
I'm thinking:
1 hive/acre
3-4 frames of brood. 8-10 bars of drawn foundation covered with bees.
$40/hive
3-4 weeks to cover the bloom but be out before any spraying.
Is this in the ball park?
price depends on the size of the orchards. the big guys want to put down lots of bees so my partner sticks with the small orchards and charges a higher fee. I'll ask him how much he charged this year but If i remember it was around 85 dollars last year but he is doing less than 10 hives per orchard.
mike
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