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Troubling Honey Bee Shortage in California

22K views 58 replies 28 participants last post by  JRG13 
#1 ·
Not sure if this has been posted yet....

DAVIS--California almond growers may not have enough honey bees to pollinate this year’s crop of 800,000 acres, says Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. He attributes the difficulty to winter losses and less populous hives.

“We need 1.6 million colonies, or two colonies per acre, and California has only about 500,000 colonies that can be used for that purpose,” he said. “We need to bring in a million more colonies but due to the winter losses, we may not have enough bees.”

Those winter losses-- still being tabulated-- and the resulting fewer bees per hive could spell trouble for almond growers, he said.

“Last year was not a good year for honey production in the United States,” Mussen said, “and it could be one of the worst honey production years in the history of nation, although it’s been pretty rough in some of the previous years. Usually when we’re short of nectar, we’re short on pollen, and honey bees need both. So, 2012 was a bad year for bee nutrition.”

Malnutrition is one of the stressors of colony collapse disorder, the mysterious malady first noticed in the winter of 2006 that has decimated one-third of the nation’s bees every year. Some beekeepers have reported winter losses of 90 to 100 percent.

In CCD, the adult bees abandon the hive, leaving behind the queen bee, brood and food stores. Bee scientists think CCD is caused by a multitude of factors, includes, pests, pesticides, parasites, diseases, malnutrition and stress.

“We don’t know how many more bees will be lost over the winter,” Mussen said. “We consider the winter ending when the weather warms up and the pollen is being brought into the hives.”

“Many, many colonies are not going to make it through the winter,” said Mussen, an apiculturist in the UC Davis Department of Entomology since 1976. “We won’t have as large a bee population as in the past.”

In other words, fewer colonies will be available for the almond growers and the colonies that are available aren’t going to be as populous, he said.” Almond growers usually want at least eight frames of bees per hive,” Mussen said, “but this year they may be lucky to get six. That’s one-third less bees per hive to pollinate the orchards.”

Mussen estimated a good solid hive with eight frames amounts to 2000 bees per frame or 16,000 bees.

Already brokers are getting calls from beekeepers saying “I can’t fulfill the contract. I’m going to be short.”

Mussen said it may all work out well in the end as “bees pollinate almonds on a community basis. The strong colonies will make up for the weak colonies. The strong colonies will clean the orchard of pollen by early afternoon and then go down the street and grab food from nearby orchards.”

San Joaquin almond orchards are already starting to bloom, “but it’s going to be late up here in the Sacramento Valley,” he said. Kern County grows more almonds than any other county in the state.

Many beekeeping operations truck in thousands of colonies to pollinate California’s almonds. One beekeeping operation used to bring 16,000 colonies, Mussen said, “but that 16,000 could be half that this year.” The bees are trucked here from all over the nation.

Almonds are California's biggest export. This year the National Agricultural Statistics Service is forecasting a record-breaking 2.10 billion meat pounds, valued at approximately $3 billion. Eighty-percent of the global supply of almonds is grown in California, and about 70 percent of California’s crop is marketed overseas.
 
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#43 ·
Do you really think this will be a two way street if the northern border opens up? Doubt it. You must have more faith in our boys doing trade negotiations than I do. Come to think of it I have almost come to the conclusion for the first time in my life that swapping the dudes in Ottawa for the limp wristted mealy mouthed pansies representing us out of DC might not really be a fair trade for the Canadians. :sleep:
 
#44 ·
ah, are you kidding? even if we painted all our hives Red and White before we sent them down, you still would be hard pressed to see any sitting in the groves. Like Nick said, it would just be more foraging territory for the US migratory beekeepers, our small time ops would get lost in the shuffle

But, our border stays shut for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to help keep guarantee your Mexican boarder stays shut.
Your big lobby US lobby groups would of had our boarder open years ago, if they really had the intention to do so
 
#52 ·
no need to use snow shoes, come to ny, the snowmobile trails connect on the Canadian border, from what I can see you can enter from Penn. and go almost due north, all we have to do is get some of the gun racks from Roland. Just not sure how many hives we can carry back on the return trip.
 
#53 ·
back to the shortage. here is a post on bee-l about the economics of feeding the hives for almond production.

http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A2=ind1302&L=BEE-L&F=&S=&P=165743

Beekeepers that attempt to satisfy almond growers demand for strong bee
colonies are faced with a difficult choice: spend the necessary money to
produce such colonies, or rent weaker colonies at a reduced price. According
to UC Extension Apiculturist, Eric Mussen, “four frames of bees is the size a
Central Valley California colony is likely to be (if it survives) when it is not fed
extra syrup and protein during the year.” (Jan/Feb 2010 Newsletter, From the
UC Apiaries). Dr. Mussen estimates that beekeepers must spend $120/colony
to provide 4-frame colonies and $200 to $220/colony to provide 8 to 10
frame colonies (these cost figures are likely 10% higher for 2013 than they
were in 2010). A beekeeper is better off, probably far better off, renting a 4
to 6-frame colony for $150 than renting an 8 to 10-frame colony for $200.
Even with record almond pollination fees, building high bee populations that
continue to consume expensive feed during the winter (both before and after
almond bloom) does not make economic sense for many bee operations.
With varroa mites, viruses and diminished bee pasture taking an evermounting
toll on honey bees, today’s beekeeper feels fortunate if he can
cover operating expenses, let alone attain an ROI (a term foreign to many
beekeeping operations).
 
#54 ·
I would like to see a breakdown of those numbers that Dr. Mussen gave back in late 2009. Feed expenses have gone up considerably since then. Anyone know if he ever published any more specific information as to how he arrived at those figures?
 
#55 ·
Things are so bad that I got a call from someone in CA looking for bees from me and my hives are in SC. And my friends who send bees to CA from SC did so weeks ago.

No, I did not send any. Even though $200.00 per colony is attractive.
 
#57 ·
Costs seem high to me unless that includes labor, transport, etc... and not just feeding costs.
Dr. Mussen estimates that beekeepers must spend $120/colony
to provide 4-frame colonies and $200 to $220/colony to provide 8 to 10
frame colonies (these cost figures are likely 10% higher for 2013 than they
were in 2010). <--- my take on this was that normal costs for a normal hive(not in blue boxes) was the $120, so the extra $80 dollars was the feeding, and I would think you would include fuel, feed, time, and purchasing patties and hfcs. Now that may be high if you live in cali. but from out of state?
 
#58 ·
I was present at our Central Valley Beekeeping Association Meeting this last Thursday. It was mentioned that a beekeeper is advertising $210 for 8 frame average bees for 2014 Almond Pollination; another beekeeper is going to charge $185 for 2014 Almond Pollination.

These issues of 2013 will only continue into 2014 in my opinion due to "lack of rain", "lack of forage", increased almond plantings. Whether the price of Almonds is great or not, currently $3.50+ pound, we beekeepers must charge according to our cost per hive knowing that Almond Pollination is close to 90% of our income for the entire year.
 
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