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Shortage of bees in almonds?

24K views 72 replies 23 participants last post by  grozzie2 
#1 ·
Had a broker call me this morning looking for bees, of which I have no extras. I haven't talked to this broker in several years. She asked if I knew of anyone with extra bees. Sign of things to come?
 
#8 ·
I am running a special this month, deal to end in 30 days.

I can & will deliver bee boxes with frames, stacked 2 high (Double) on 4 way pallets with lids included, to any almond orchard for $ 100 per double. up to 3,000 available. Delivery will only be made between the hours of 9 AM & 4 PM daily with a half hour for lunch @ noon daily as per ca labor laws, payment will be in CASH only! you will not receive a invoice, and these boxes will also improve the bottom line because you will not have to pay a 3rd party bee inspector. And yes each box will average 8 frames, with an additional inside feeder to boot.
 
#11 ·
Sure is... The calls began last week. Keep on keeping on.

Had an unbiased outsider who is related to beekeeping and is what I would call a "know it all" in this industry tell me this morning that a pallet is worth $800 right now.

As I got off the freeway coming home from finally grading this afternoon I saw that the final sticks being thrown in on another 150 acre plant. (new ground) Another 80 will be going in a mile from home in a couple of days. Lots of new acres going in as if bees will be available.. And all I can think is............ Well ya.......... at way more than $150.


The real test will be when the growers who need bees call and are willing to pay " going" rate for all the 4"s and 5's we culled out. :sleep:

Bloom is late and so are the bees in brooding up cause of the cold. 4-6 days behind last year at this point on the trees and I'm not commenting on the brood. All I can say is FINALLY!! and are the queens on a terror now.
 
#15 ·
Darren: Thanks for the insight and welcome to Beesource. Always nice to have input from someone with a lot of experience. DPP, yeah that is a good way of explaining things but I have seen evidence that PPB is still alive and well. ;)
 
#17 ·
This is heaven here after surviving 30 to 40 below wind chills in South Dakota a few days ago. Gonna be 70 today. Yeah 70, now that's a super Sunday. :thumbsup:
 
#18 ·
after surviving 30 to 40 below wind chills in South Dakota
As my dad was fond of saying...'you get up into the Dakotas and the only thing between you and the North Pole is a barbed wire fence'.
And from that, I reckon those Canadians don't even have the barbed wire fence. :)
 
#24 ·
YOU GOT HER ALL, the barbed wire, the oil, the water, the canola,...
It was simply a tongue-in-cheek way of saying it gets stinkin' cold up that way...i.e. there doesn't seem to be anything blocking the flow of arctic air. No offense intended....
 
#23 ·
Yes , Jim some fun, but lets ask a better question, What has changed in the recent 15 years. Let us not forget that 20 to 30 years ago the ( for lack of better term ) Homer Simpson beek could do extremly well making money as a beek. Beeks would actauly kill off 50 to 90 % of stock in the fall, go south for the winter, then in spring take 1000 hives & turn into 8000 for summer honey production and make an Incredible honey crop, take the winter off to go hunting.

The reality of beekkeeping has changed and I firmly believe the Pesticide & chemical elements in our agriculture industry has had a drastic effect.

I could go on for pages but hope this helps other beeks to start looking around, find out what has changed in the business environmernt of the farming industry.
 
#27 ·
Yes , Jim some fun, but lets ask a better question, What has changed in the recent 15 years. Let us not forget that 20 to 30 years ago the ( for lack of better term ) Homer Simpson beek could do extremly well making money as a beek. Beeks would actauly kill off 50 to 90 % of stock in the fall, go south for the winter, then in spring take 1000 hives & turn into 8000 for summer honey production and make an Incredible honey crop, take the winter off to go hunting.

The reality of beekkeeping has changed and I firmly believe the Pesticide & chemical elements in our agriculture industry has had a drastic effect.
.
Ive never done the 8:1 program, 2 maybe 3 to one is more our style. Getting a little tougher for the Homer Simpsons of the world to make it though. There are a lot of things going on in bee hives pretty difficult to clearly see the delineation between ppb and dpp. I am nor singling anyone out as a poor beekeeper by any means but the fact does remain that some beekeepers seem to fare better than others year in and year out. Perhaps it's the territory and what they are exposed to perhaps its beekeeper manipulations or lack of them. I don't have a clue, I don't even know how I might be described but I will sure admit to a few Homer Simpson moments.
 
#30 ·
"""It was simply a tongue-in-cheek way of saying it gets stinkin' cold up that way...i.e. there doesn't seem to be anything blocking the flow of arctic air. No offense intended.... """"ya it gets cool up here ,the other day it was minus 45 C with the wind chill......poor bees

No offense taken beemandan.......just keep that ol American economy peddling along,which should keep that good old American dollar high in the sky value.......us Canucks will sell you anything you want including bees for almonds.......not that we would be able to do that legally but where there is a will there is the way.
 
#31 ·
Yes Kieth we here what you are saying and totally agree.
I mean my family has been more than successful keeping bees as their sol living since 1974.
We do great and have more than enough time off.
My worries are that every year it will get worse. There are so many clues telling us something is wrong.

What larry is saying is that it has obviously gotten more difficult to be consistent at this profession.
I dont know if you understand that you cant feed bees when they dont need it. Also cant supplement pollen when the bees are gathering pollen that is not as good as it used to beeeeeeee.

everyone and everything needs nourishment and a place to forage.
As the years pass there is less and less good forage land.
I am young and want to be able to do this for many years to come.

also got 2 calls in the last week from people looking for bees for almonds.
 
#32 ·
o yeah and Keith how would you know what we all put into our bees?


Lets talk labor, how many bee yards do you have? how many employees do you have?
not enough labor my a##.

Do you survive financially on only a honey crop and pollination income?

or do you get rich selling NUTRA BEE
 
#38 · (Edited)
o yeah and Keith how would you know what we all put into our bees?
Do you survive financially on only a honey crop and pollination income?
What a posy post that was#32, hope you didn't waste to much time on that.
Ben, I will give you a little run down on what I do as to your question "financially survive"
1) shaking bees this week@ $30.00lb
2) almonds 3000 hives in
3) shaking bees after almonds @ $12lb
4) move some bees like to your state of TX Ben, last year and did well with honey avg
5) Ok, I will stop at (5) it is now the month of June & those bees of last year at this time grossed $480 per hive, you would have to be brainless not to make money in this maket.
 
#33 ·
To answer LSpender, besides the latest and greatest pathogens, I blame the plants. Something has chnaged in the plants in the last 10-15 years. When you saw fields of flowers, the bees made honey. Now, you never know what will happen. Could it be weather? I doubt it. Side effect of a agriculture chemical? Quite possible. Acid Rain? possible, but not likely, we are on Limestone.

Crazy Roland
 
#37 ·
When you saw fields of flowers, the bees made honey.
Climate/environment/plant changes are surely possibilities. But we wouldn't want to overlook the health of our bees. Even the best beekeepers' bees are still, in my opinion, more heavily parasitized than those 10 - 15 years ago. Faced with the same field of flowering plants, again in my opinion, less vigorous bees will produce less honey.
Countless possibilities........
 
#35 ·
I think we may be over analyzing this a bit too much. In regards to the current bee supply available for Almonds this year the question is really what has changed since last year or the year before, which were both years when there were enough bees to go around. #1 on my list is the most severe drought since 1956 and it cut right through the area where most bees spend the summer. #'s 2 and 3 in no particular order are most likely the unusually early spring which resulted in an unusually long brooding season together with the unavailability of (ahem) product A for mite control. Yes I do think the change in farming practices is a contributing factor as well but it's difficult to make the case that things really changed much in one year.
 
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