Post a handbill on any bulletin board you can-
Add on Craigslist-
Good luck
Bill

 

I put 600 miles on my pickup in the last 6 days driving around looking for new sites. It takes time and Plat books for 7 different counties that I cover. Just get out there and ask.

 

Show up with several bottles of honey when you ask, makes a difference

 

Show up with several bottles of honey when you ask, makes a difference

Sage advice from a man who has done this a few years.


Look for farmers with fruit trees but not large fruit orchards. It is relatively easy to extol the benefits of having an apiary of pollinators close enough to ensure good fruit set. Helps a lot if the orchard has not been particularly productive because of lack of pollinators. Just be careful about getting into an area where pesticides are sprayed heavily. Also, if you put bees in an apiary and then find out it is unproductive or has other problems, move out fast. I have 4 apiaries currently. All of them have proven productive over a number of years.

 

Also, if you put bees in an apiary and then find out it is unproductive or has other problems, move out fast

:thumbsup:

 

I look for spots that would be good locations for me and then I ask around for the landowners. I too take a jar of honey when I go looking for new yards. It takes leg work and persistence. You are going to get turned down more often than not.

Tell them why you are knocking on their door. Tell them you want a location for your bees that you can access whenever you need to be working your bees. A good dry spot where you won't get stuck.

 

I look for spots that would be good locations

you can save some driving around if you look at potential areas with google earth. Draw a 2 mile circle around your potential site and take a look at possible forage. Saved me considerable time and driving

 

I don't worry much about the potential forage. I'm not sure how I would assess forage potential, especially from a Google Earth Map. If I can find a place that is a good one for me and my truck and trailer, then it's pretty much a good place for my bees. Bees fly to forage well beyond what I can really see around me.

Whereas some apiaries prove more productive than others, telling that before setting hives where I can is difficult. So I find a location that is accessible within a certain driving range and once permission is gained I set hives there. After 5 years I have some idea whether is a good or poor location. And if it isn't very good I don't put bees there again.

But I am more apt to abandon a location that is difficult to get into and out of than I am a location that doesn't produce as well as another.

 

I don't worry much about the potential forage. I'm not sure how I would assess forage potential, especially from a Google Earth Map. If I can find a place that is a good one for me and my truck and trailer, then it's pretty much a good place for my bees. Bees fly to forage well beyond what I can really see around me.

Of course, you research what other commercial apiaries are in the area, where they are, and where you could locate that new apiary at a proper distance from them? Or, that doesn't matter?

 

I tossed a ad on Craigslist a few months back and received over 100 replies, I found several nice outyards.

 

I've put adds on Craigslist a few times. I don't get nearly 100 replies. Usually 4 or 5 every time I post. Usually 3 or 4 of them are no-go's though. One told me they would let me put bees on their property if I gave them purple kutzu honey. When I dug a little more, there was about a 1 acre kutzu patch across the street. I passed. Another had 10 acers of hay, and wanted 50% of the honey I pulled off the hives for putting them there. I passed again. Most of the other offers I got were too far for me to make any use of them, but otherwise seemed fine.

I typically post an ad in the fall. Those that respond they have a spot, easy truck access, and I can visit whenever I want, I come take a look. Assuming they look fine, I tell them I'll be back in the spring. If they are still alright with me bringing bees in the spring, I take 2 hives out there for the first year. No damage, decent crop, good access in the first year, I'll increase to 6 hives the second year. Then see where things go. If the owner's a pain (rare), location doesn't do well, pesticide kills or other issues, I move them out.

 

I keep a notebook with lbs of honey per yard produced logged each year. There are certain locations that are the best producers and others the worst every year regardless of weather. When I find a new place to drop hives I look at my notes and replace the worst producing yard with the new one. that way your chances of increasing production improve constantly.

 

Google earth is awesome! I can spot an Orange grove in a second. Then I have another window open on my computer with the property appraisers website and I can go right to the owners info and get their address.

I also keep some bees down in Central Florida, and Google earth is so good I can tell what kind of bushes are growing on the side of the roads, mainly Pepper, Palm trees, and Mangrove. I already know what kind of plants I'm looking for in each area so it's a usefully tool to see if any are there. It also allows you to see what's off the road a lot of plants like Pepper grows in tight clumps and you can identify them from the satellite view. Sometimes it's helpful to see ponds or other ways into a piece of property. Don't over look it as a tool for beeyards.

Find an area you like first with the forage you are looking for. Then start knocking on doors with a jar of honey. Most property appraisers now days have a website which makes it easy to find out who owns a piece of property. A letter in the mail is not too intrusive if you can't meet them in person.