# 2017 almond season



## HarryVanderpool

Hugh!
Hydraulic entrance reducers; what will they think of next....


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## R.Varian

I thought looking out and seeing snow was depressing!


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## beesohappy

Wow. I've heard it's been wet but holly cow.

Those trees look like they're still 3-4 weeks from bloom.


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## Ian

Last year Beesource was active with pollination updates, pretty quiet this year
It's quiet up here in my Miami snow bank


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## JRG13

Orchards around here aren't that bad, that one must've been next to a creek or irrigation canal that overflowed. Bees got some flying time in starting yesterday, heard bloom has started in some parts, I haven't looked around here much, but probably a week out.


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## justin

the guys i'm working for have 3 trucks and 2 swingers going, we've been taking turns pulling each other (and semis) out. slow going mess. calling for 4 sunny days here, which is good for the mud, but i started seeing a few blooms today. i'm hoping it doesn't come on too quickly.


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## beepro

The almond trees here been blooming profusely all week already turning the trees pinkish color. Mine just
about to bloom along with the peach trees. Some are early blooming while others are late blooming type. The
established trees can withstand the standing water in the orchards though the newly planted baby cannot stand
the water logged fields. The magnolia and wild mustard are blooming all over too. Afraid the almond runs this year
will be affected because of the flooding. More rains predicted to come this coming Friday. Four days of clear sky will
not cut it. For me, I'll be taking advantage of this opportunity to broadcast some clovers and wild mustard seeds in the
nearby open fields.


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## Thedwall

Blue Diamond is supposed to start their daily report this week:
http://bluediamondgrowers.com/crop-progress-report/


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## loggermike

Emergency warning for Oroville Dam!!https://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/016.html?MR=1


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## Ian

Wow
Hope everyone stays safe


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## loggermike

Live coverage:http://www.kcra.com/nowcast
Lots of evacuations


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## jim lyon

Yes, a scary situation indeed. Here is a site I like to check in on regularly. Note the Oroville Dam at 101% capacity. 
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action


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## loggermike

They dumped enough water so it has stopped going over the emergency spillway, which is good news. But more rain is on the way later in the week.Its going to be a nerve wracking pollination season if we don't get more sun.


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## Ian

Anyone's hive stock in flood danger?


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## beepro

Not sure. They said the water is going out to the farmland and orchards. Did not specify what kind of
orchards. I'll bet some are almonds too. Right now they dump big boulders by chopper into the
big hole hoping to stop the erosion a bit. We're lucky this time!


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## liljake83

The evacuation is still on we made it out it was a pretty crazy situation people were driving like maniacs the hwys were parking lots luckily I know the backroads I think the worst is over at least until it starts raining again on wednsday if the emergency dam were to break allot of orchards along the feather and sacramento rivers would be under water they estimated a 30ft wall of water


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## JRG13

loggermike said:


> They dumped enough water so it has stopped going over the emergency spillway, which is good news. But more rain is on the way later in the week.Its going to be a nerve wracking pollination season if we don't get more sun.


Supposed to start Wednesday, rain all through next week as well.....


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## beepro

I'm sure they have to release some water through the spillway again with this coming rains.
Right now is the best time to repair or put more boulders into the hole. If it breaks then 300,000
people through out the regions will be affected including us here. Cannot say many bee hives are not affected as well. Let's 
hope we don't have to go through this phase.


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## loggermike

We went down yesterday to look at hives in the Chico area.
Ready to start work:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b...a-780a-4c70-a761-bd3bdb655609_zpseimuwnhl.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b278/loggermike/009 - Copy_zps8nfykgh8.jpg
Bloom is just starting.http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b278/loggermike/017_zpsxotvzx0d.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b278/loggermike/016_zpsqzjazmir.jpg

Wild almond tree by the freeway:http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b278/loggermike/014_zpsdvhc8grx.jpg
Sacramento River is running high. Didn't see any flooded orchards, but it was too wet to drive in.


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## Ian

Are the growers happy for the moisture or are they complaining due to potential disease issues? 
Watch out bees, here comes the spray planes


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## Daniel Y

JRG13 said:


> Orchards around here aren't that bad, that one must've been next to a creek or irrigation canal that overflowed. Bees got some flying time in starting yesterday, heard bloom has started in some parts, I haven't looked around here much, but probably a week out.


I will be in Sacrament the first weekend in March. I plan to leave Reno early in the morning and be in sac by about 10a.m. I want to see some groves for myself. hope the bloom is full on then. that is two and a half weeks from now. I need to know where to find some groves though. If nothing else I plan to stop in at Mann Lake and see if they can point me in the direction of any. Not looking good for things to dry out any for the next week.


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## loggermike

There will be fungicides going on every break in the weather guaranteed.


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## HarryVanderpool

Ian said:


> Watch out bees, here comes the spray planes


No good spraying weather in sight.


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## HarryVanderpool

If you are thinking of traveling to anywhere within an 80 mile Radius (or more) of Oroville, make sure to call ahead and reserve your hotel in advance.
As of today, there are no empty rooms anywhere.
Waiting lists also.
All hotels are "no vacancy" filled with families evacuated from the Oroville Dam.
Rain is on it's way, also.


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## loggermike

https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/USCA0211
Yikes. Better call the syrup truck!


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## JRG13

Daniel Y said:


> I will be in Sacrament the first weekend in March. I plan to leave Reno early in the morning and be in sac by about 10a.m. I want to see some groves for myself. hope the bloom is full on then. that is two and a half weeks from now. I need to know where to find some groves though. If nothing else I plan to stop in at Mann Lake and see if they can point me in the direction of any. Not looking good for things to dry out any for the next week.


Daniel,

If you visit Mann Lake you're in the right area. Just hope in I-5 and you will start seeing almonds within 5 minutes heading North. If you want to see a good density, exit County Line Road just after Dunnigan and before Arbuckle and head west, this is about 25 minutes north of Mann Lake. The orchard start right next to the freeway. This isn't the highest density of orchard by no means either, but you can get a good idea of it if you just imagine all the other open space around was all trees as well.


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## Ian

HarryVanderpool said:


> No good spraying weather in sight.



Do they use planes over there? Or is it all bottom up treatments?


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## loggermike

"Growers are busily preparing their sprayers to apply fungicide treatments prior to the next predicted storm. Some orchards on heavy ground will need to apply their treatments by air as the ground is too muddy for tractors to get into the orchards. Ground treatments have begun on soil that has dried out enough for tractors to drive on. Beekeepers are racing to get the remainder of their hives placed in orchards, as another storm is anticipated to arrive by the middle of this week."
http://bluediamondgrowers.com/crop-progress-reports/february-13-2017/


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## Daniel Y

JRG13 said:


> Daniel,
> 
> If you visit Mann Lake you're in the right area. Just hope in I-5 and you will start seeing almonds within 5 minutes heading North. If you want to see a good density, exit County Line Road just after Dunnigan and before Arbuckle and head west, this is about 25 minutes north of Mann Lake. The orchard start right next to the freeway. This isn't the highest density of orchard by no means either, but you can get a good idea of it if you just imagine all the other open space around was all trees as well.



Thank you very much. As for a room. I am going to McClellan for the weekend. Have had reservations for about 6 months. Still no guarantee they will hold a room with the evacuees. Worst case I simply drive back and forth to the conference. 4 hours driving time each day on top of 14 hour days at the conference. We make the best of just about anything.


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## jim lyon

Perhaps this is a year where limited flying times will work out better for orchard owners that opted to pay for a higher hive density?


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## Ian

How far along is the bloom where your bees are at Jim?


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## JRG13

Daniel Y said:


> Thank you very much. As for a room. I am going to McClellan for the weekend. Have had reservations for about 6 months. Still no guarantee they will hold a room with the evacuees. Worst case I simply drive back and forth to the conference. 4 hours driving time each day on top of 14 hour days at the conference. We make the best of just about anything.


The evacuation order has been lifted, but with another week of rain coming, who knows what will happen. This series of storms is to be a lot weaker though and they're still blasting water out of the lake so things should be ok.

Starting to see some popcorn in the trees, so in a few days it should really be popping but hopefully the trees will hold while it rains for another week.


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## jim lyon

Ian said:


> How far along is the bloom where your bees are at Jim?


Our bees are in the southern part. About all the current info I have is what the Blue Diamond website is providing.


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## Ian

Jim are your hives all tended for fee or do you slip over and check in from time to time ?


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## jim lyon

Ian said:


> Jim are your hives all tended for fee or do you slip over and check in from time to time ?


I contract with a broker/handler who deals directly with and gets paid by the growers. They do all the unloading, placing and reloading for a fee. I'm free to go out there if need be but haven't gone out there much in recent years, I prefer to be in Texas tending to the hives we didn't ship and working our builders so the "pipeline" is full of cells when the bees get back in Texas. It's a win/win/win as far as I'm concerned and on a year like this they are certainly earning their money.


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## Ian

Nice 
What % of your operation do you send out?


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## RangerLee

I live in Madera area and am shocked at the number of almond fields I saw to day beginning to bloom and no bees are placed.. at the same time I have heard of no shortages... in fact a commercial beekeeper around here was still seeking to place 1300 hives 2 weeks ago... but what I saw today was shocking... some big fields with no bees...


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## Nick Noyes

Saw same thing. There aren't any good bees that I know of that didn't get placed.


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## MTN-Bees

I saw the same thing down in the Fresno and Tulare County areas.


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## liljake83

Durham Ca 2-14-17 lots of spray rigs out spraying in prep for the rain


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## MTN-Bees

I also saw lots of spray rigs today also along with an air tractor out working.


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## jean-marc

RangerLee said:


> I live in Madera area and am shocked at the number of almond fields I saw to day beginning to bloom and no bees are placed.. at the same time I have heard of no shortages... in fact a commercial beekeeper around here was still seeking to place 1300 hives 2 weeks ago... but what I saw today was shocking... some big fields with no bees...


I am thinking the rain has caused delivery problems? I can say that rain can slow you down by a facor of 3 easily. What would nomally take 1 day to move, now can take 3 days, with getting stuck and all the fallout.

Jean-Marc


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## RAK

Trying to post some almond pics. How do I with an Android?


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## Ian

Go through photobucket, share the photo by copy paste the image link


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## suttonbeeman

Our bees got cancelled and I kniw of 5 other liads that got cancelled from Fl. Sure glad Im not in Ca. They wanted me to send them last week of Jan and I waited. I can imagine what they would look like today. Honey fliw on in Fl and 80. Good to stay on East coast with my 7 to 12 framers (as of 3 wks ago) whick are now 12 to 20 framers


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## Ian

Sounds nice. 
So were they cancelled due to inaccessibility to the almond groves or over supply?


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## homegrown

Please correct me if I'm wrong, here's my understanding:

-last year almond prices hit a high of $5 per lb, shortly after the bubble bursted and prices fell to about the cost of production for growers.

-to cut costs, many growers dropped there crop insurance which often requires the grower to place 2 hives per acre.

This is why there's a surplus of bees this year? Am I missing anything? Maybe fewer losses with more folks wintering in climate controlled warehouses?


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## Flyer Jim

The guy on the news said Camanche and Don Pedro reservoirs will go over the spillway on the 20th or 21st, Pardee has been spilling for over 3 weeks. Lots of almonds down stream from Don Pedro 
some are mine. All that water ends up in the delta and those poor people have more than they want now.


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## Ian

Has it stopped raining?


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## MTN-Bees

Nope- Another round coming in!


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## Ian

They will be marking the high water marks for the record books


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## loggermike

Heaviest rain tomorrow and Tuesday. Maybe a break on Thursday and Friday.There are flood warnings EVERYWHERE for the whole week. 

Good luck Jim! Lets hope the levees hold.

Bees will fly during the brief breaks as long as its not too windy. But I think this year would have been a dumb move to drop the crop insurance.


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## BadBeeKeeper

> But I think this year would have been a dumb move to drop the crop insurance.


Well, if supply was up and demand/prices were down, then it might make sense to cut costs and production instead of wasting money to make a crop that you may or may not be able to sell for what it cost to make. How long can you sit on a crop of almonds in storage? You can 'bank' honey and maple syrup to regulate supply, but how long can you sit on your nuts in a warehouse?


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## loggermike

BadBeeKeeper said:


> Well, if supply was up and demand/prices were down, then it might make sense to cut costs and production instead of wasting money to make a crop that you may or may not be able to sell for what it cost to make. How long can you sit on a crop of almonds in storage? You can 'bank' honey and maple syrup to regulate supply, but how long can you sit on your nuts in a warehouse?


You may be right-or not. I could see several ways to look at this. But only an almond grower would have the numbers. I can pencil out my beekeeping expenses and income but I am just guessing at the almond growers situation. Someone in an earlier post speculated the growers that don't have bees in the orchard may have dropped the crop insurance. I really don't know if that is true or there are other reasons for not renting bees. I saw the same thing-but its been so wet I figured they were just hoping for a break in the weather then rush them in. Haven't been down there to see if thats changed.


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## Daniel Y

Here on the other side of the hill. Note, CA gets hit way harder than we do. we get the left overs here. The sun came out the last couple of days just enough to almost get dryish yesterday. Then the rain started again. As far as I can tell there are breaks but they may not be nearly enough of a break. And as was mentioned, flood warning everywhere. We are under one and may already be getting them in some areas. South of us is expected to get hit even harder. I mentioned somewhere else that the ground here is so wet I can pull fence posts that are 2 feet deep set in concrete out of the ground with my hands. We are turning into a swamp.


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## Flyer Jim

Ask one of my growers why so many orchards without bees,he said some are independence trees using bees from next door orchards, not making happy farmers.


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## Ian

Free loaders


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## JRG13

What are you guys talking about, they said we're still in a drought, all this flooding is fabrication and media hype.... Heavy rains through tomorrow, then we may get a break for the next week with 40-50% chances of raining most of those days. People crying about all the water going to ocean still, too bad they don't understand any new storage built would've been full already as well. I guess people just don't have any common sense anymore, when we actually get a lot of rain.... stuff floods and water goes to the ocean, there isn't a darn thing we can do about it. I read an article on some small guy growing Independence, he had the same mentality but didn't state it as such, just that he didn't need to get bees anymore, but it wasn't really mentioned that of course all the growers around him had bees and w/o them the crop wouldn't do as well but then never say that, they just push the 'but you save money on not buying bees' part.


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## RangerLee

From Madera area again... last couple days reported 2-3 inches of rain.. now winds are 20+ mph. Driving through town... with the rain and wind... many pedals now dropping... I have heard some similar rumblings that some growers may simply be "winging" it... take some trees out of "production" or using "neighbor bees" because of price decrease in almonds


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## Daniel Y

From over the hill. it rained all day yesterday and all night last night. 5 am and it is still going. We are under flood warning until tomorrow morning meaning it is expected to rain all day again today. We have not seen dry ground here since November. This is a location that we typical get about 30 minutes or rain from time to time and it is dried up in a couple of hours.
I was wondering if the rain was taking the blossoms out.


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## jim lyon

Daniel Y said:


> From over the hill. it rained all day yesterday and all night last night. 5 am and it is still going. We are under flood warning until tomorrow morning meaning it is expected to rain all day again today. We have not seen dry ground here since November. This is a location that we typical get about 30 minutes or rain from time to time and it is dried up in a couple of hours.
> I was wondering if the rain was taking the blossoms out.


I have been in this business longer than I care to admit and the years of lowest honey production are typically the years of excessive rainfall because it usually comes at the expense of good foraging weather. Whats currently playing out in California is the nightmare scenario and I'm not counting on much nectar production. We will definitely have the syrup tanks full and the feed pumps ready when they get returned. Glad we sent our bees out heavier than we normally do.


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## Chip Euliss

I was in CA a few weeks before the almonds started and my bees were nice and heavy. I debated on whether I should feed syrup or not--glad now that I did AND that I was able to get to them in my truck. As Jim said earlier in this thread, the folks we contract with to place our hives in almonds worked especially hard for their money this year!


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## JRG13

Bees should be flying today, but not sure how the bloom is affected when it's open and being pounded with wind and rain....


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## jim lyon

Don Pedro flood gates opened yesterday, sounds like they aren't going to be closed any time soon. Hope any low lying downstream bees have been moved to higher ground.


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## Flyer Jim

Last night on cbs 13
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/02/22/flooding-claiming-bee-colonies-in-stanislaus-county/


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## JRG13

It's one of those years.... A lot of people trying to point fingers, but really, when we get this much moisture, there isn't anything we could've done about it. New storage would've been full, twin tunnels wouldn't help either, but maybe they could've loaded up the bullet train with water tankers...


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## maryland honey bees

How long before the bees in the south parts of ca start getting sent back/bloom over?


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## liljake83

I think growers will start calling for em to be moved out in 2 weeks or less the winds put a lot of pedals on the ground


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## RangerLee

Another Madera area report... last night I had frost in my yard. Almonds closer to the 99 were most likely not cold enough. Suppose to be in the mid 30s next 2 nights. The commercial guy in the almond grove down the street from me placed sugar water on his hives last night...


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## HarryVanderpool

I have a friend that has helped me cover one of our orchards for several years.
This year his hives were along the south edge of the orchard , parallel to rail road tracks.
Our area had a fluke rain / hail storm that left 4" in the rain gauge overnight.
Pressure from the water, WASHED OUT the railroad and flooded our side.
Now, there are areas with rail, with attached rail road ties hanging in mid-air.
Hives were washed away and scattered up to hundreds of feet away.
Other hives just sat in water for a couple of days. 
During the clean-up of the dead hives there were frames found with solid sealed brood that reminded you of what was lost.

Lots of horrible war stories this year.
I hope all of your bees are O.K.


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## Ian

Oh ****.....


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## loggermike

I lost hives some years back in the Nord area when a levee broke so know that sick feeling.

Frost protection sprinklers went on this morning in Chico area.Likely will again tomorrow.
Bloom is reaching peak in all areas of the state.
Bought a tanker of syrup . 2nd round of syrup went on (thanks to good friends with 4 wheelers).
Good news is the bees have been getting out, warmer dryer weather on the way and plenty of pollen to be had.
Hives are getting graded ....:shhhh:


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## Bkwoodsbees

Good luck to all you that have hives in the Almonds. I hope it works out for the best so you can play again next year. It has been interesting following this thread. Robert


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## loggermike

California Farm Bureau article:
http://www.agalert.com/story/?id=10619


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## RAK

Had some under water near a creek. Thats the reason we keep our hives banded. We might lose some but the boxes stay together. Most of the bees moved up but brood was killed in lower boxes.


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## Ian

I've had hives sit nearly underwater at one time. The worst was the wet comb and molding afterwards


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## suttonbeeman

Ian said:


> Sounds nice.
> So were they cancelled due to inaccessibility to the almond groves or over supply?


First griwrr found bees,for 155. Then others cut what they wanted. I think oversupply of bee boxes not bees


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## HarryVanderpool

One orchard released on March 14th in Glenn County.


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## Daniel Y

We went and looked at at Groves on County Line Road on Friday. it was dry but it is obvious a lot of water has been there recently. IT was a beautiful day and a lot of work being done . I have some photos showing some things that the typical photos I se online are nto showing. piles of cutup trees from where they have fallen and been removed. washed out areas etc. But for the most part it did not look to bad that day. it is now raining again here. Stopped by Mann Lake and they had people driving away with truck loads of pre assembled frames with plastic foundation. they had a special going on. They also had an in store only special going on on so we picked up a few things. My basic impression is it is Ag. and they are fairly well holding their own. Bloom was at it's peak. and oh what wonderful smell with all those Almond trees in bloom.


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## Michael Palmer

Now I remember why I quit pollinating...


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## Fusion_power

It is a lot of work. It is hard on the bees. It is not attuned to nature and you prefer to work with nature instead of with typical commercial agriculture. All are good reasons to avoid pollination, but there is still a lot of money to be made and money sings a siren song to many beekeepers.


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## HarryVanderpool

If I lived in Vermont or Alabama, I'm quite sure I would have a different view about almond pollination in California.
Living just 9 hours away from $150.00 - $200.00 pollination fees makes one think very hard about making it happen.
Also, in most years the bees come back looking MUCH better than when they were in the shower back here in Oregon.
Not so sure if that will be the case this year considering limited flight hours.
Regardless, let me share the official Vanderpool Farms company philosophy:

"We do what we want to do."


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## Michael Palmer

HarryVanderpool said:


> If I lived in Vermont or Alabama, I'm quite sure I would have a different view about almond pollination in California.
> Living just 9 hours away from $150.00 - $200.00 pollination fees makes one think very hard about making it happen.
> Also, in most years the bees come back looking MUCH better than when they were in the shower back here in Oregon.
> Not so sure if that will be the case this year considering limited flight hours.
> Regardless, let me share the official Vanderpool Farms company philosophy:
> 
> "We do what we want to do."


Harry, I understand. Really, I do. I was speaking from pollinating apples in New York. Started at [email protected] on 600 in 1986, I moved the bees by hand. Eventually got it to $35, they moved the bees. Whatever, I lost more value in honey than I received by pollinating the orchard. Also, I lost significantly more bees in the winter with the pollinators than with those that weren't moved. All in all, pollination wasn't a good business plan for me. 

Maybe you really meant to say, "We do what we have to do". I would agree.


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## jim lyon

MP, the thing is, Almond pollination is done 3 months ahead of the main flow in the north, plenty of time for any weak hives to get rebuilt and replaced. Yes, sometimes it can be tough on the hives but thats not always the case and when you are talking rates in the $180 range, well, thats about what one can expect to get from honey production without the extracting.


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## Michael Palmer

I get it Jim. But suppose you were able to make a decent living without moving bees, would you?


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## mbevanz

I think there is a balance. Place bees on honey in the season somewhere in the midwest and pollinate almonds in winter. Chasing pollination 2/3 of the year would be much more difficult.


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## jim lyon

Michael Palmer said:


> I get it Jim. But suppose you were able to make a decent living without moving bees, would you?


I suppose so and we survived (sometimes barely) for a lot of years without it, but that is a lot of money to leave on the table. Everybody, including me, complains about all things California......until the check shows up.  I will admit, I'm jealous of your peace of mind and Vermont winter lifestyle.


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## Michael Palmer

Well, I admit that I'm blessed. The Champlain valley is surely THE land of milk and honey. Has been for a hundred and fifty years. But, I'm not saying it's easy. Winter is so long. I want to be with my bees and in my garden. But we wait and take each season as it comes. Nuc and queen sales have usurped pollination in my business plan.


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## HarryVanderpool

Michael Palmer said:


> Maybe you really meant to say, "We do what we have to do". I would agree.


No.
We do what we want to do.
That doesn't mean that we are a bunch of inconsiderate a-holes.
It applies usually when we are having a hard time deciding on something big.
We take all of the factors involved and then step back and ask, "What do we really _WANT_ to do?

We have another company policy that you may like better.
"We will take bees NOWHERE, where the bees come out looking worse than when they went in."

It sounds similar to your decision to drop apples.

I can right off hand think of 4 premium contracts that I have dropped due to this very policy.
Not one of them we regret walking away from.

On the other hand, just to add something positive to this discussion:
We have a tree fruit contract, (peaches, apples, cherries, pears) that also have a lot of maple trees in the area  that you will be hard pressed to find better bees as a result of their time there!!!
Also, I actually, personally love the annual trek to almonds. (except this year; it sucked!)
It is so wonderful to pull our bees out of the shower in Oregon and in most years go through them in sunny California!
In most years, they come back in beautiful shape.
But there again, if ours came back in the sad shape others complain about, we would change growers in a heart beat.


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## Ian

I chatted with a beekeeper down somewhere out there in northern Cali. Had tough time getting in but the conditions now are terrific and his hives are in good
Shape. 
Said it's going to turn out to be a good season


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## Flyer Jim

We fed all of our bees in almonds last week, 2 dead a few dinks. We looked at about 10% half had capped swarm cells. First load is coming out tonight.


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## jean-marc

Sounds like it's been good for bees and you have a bunch of work ahead of you Jim. 

Jean-Marc


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## AstroZomBEE

We start picking hives up friday night, Chowchilla vicinity.


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## RangerLee

Yeap picking our hives up from Chowchilla on 3/12. Funny though.. the Almond groves are all over the board with their blooms. I see groves that are completely done and across the street they are in full bloom. The weather did play havoc with everything here this year...


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## B&E

That would be due to different varieties no?


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## jim lyon

B&E said:


> That would be due to different varieties no?


Different varieties are normally planted in strips throughout an orchard to extend the blooming period. Apparently this year some varieties were delayed by the excessive rainfall more than others.....at least thats what I've been told.


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## Daniel Y

Blue Diamonds almond report lists 8 varieties of almonds. All bloom on their onw schedule. THis the first paragraph of their report as of March 8.
Petals are continuing to shed statewide as bloom approaches its inevitable conclusion. Butte and Padre are now the only varieties statewide with any viable bloom remaining averaging around 20%. Higher winds in the northern region on Monday accelerated petal fall in that region and leaving only around 10% of viable flowers in the Butte and Padre. Bloom is effectively done in all other varieties. Bees remaining in the field are beginning to seek other sources of pollen as little remains in almond orchards. Leaves are beginning to emerge and grow in most varieties.

I know when we where there a week agog the orchards we looked at where in full mid bloom. Feeders where on many hives and it was dry enough for a lot of workers and vehicles to be in the orchards. It moves along pretty quickly.


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