# california gold



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

When Trachael mite arrived, Vermont beekeepers got together with law makers and crafted an apiary law with a mileage limit between commercial apiaries.
commercial yards had to hold at least 15 colonies...should have been a higher number... and be 2 miles apart. Land owners could have as many colonies on their property as they wanted and mileage limits didn't apply. At the time there were very few commercials...less than 10, and we had a gentleman's agreement not to move in on each other anyway, which worked fine for us. The mileage limit worked well to keep huge operations from moving in on us. 

Even though all the beekeepers agreed, and the State legislators helped us write the law, I wonder if that law is constitutional. It has never been challenged.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

I hear ya bigbill. It's the new reality out there...and everywhere else where bee income can be made. There is such a demand for bees this time of year and with transportation costs so high it's inevitable that lots of hives will stay in the state and compete for what forage can be found. Throw in the fact that with changing farming practices there is less and less good bee pasteurage for those that do move their bees. Is someone going to move their hives 2,000+ miles in hopes of making 60 lbs. of honey? In short too many hives with too few good locations to put them in. Not an ideal situation to say the least. The common myth is that bees are dying off, the reality is that honey production is in decline because agriculture in general is changing.


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

jim lyon said:


> The common myth is that bees are dying off,


For "some" it is a myth.... 
The part that is really comical, is that they whine about the grading, they say the bees died in transport, complain about the tax. Then they sit right on top of the Calif keeper in the oranges.


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## red (Jan 15, 2013)

One of the problems is what to do with your bees when they build up good on the almonds. If you are moving back up north it's to early for hives packed full of bees. You need a place and time to split and staying in Cali. offers this. On the other side people don't seem to have the same level of respect as a few years ago. I think Siskiyou Co. has a decent law in affect but would have to be tweaked to accommodate pollination do to the closeness of groves.


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## busy bee apiary (Aug 7, 2010)

Very well said Jim! Take a drive up to North Dakota mid July and I can promise you on any given day the out of state bee trucks will out number the locals. Much of what you are describing is the same pressure we feel at home. Like Jim said "not an ideal situation to say the least but its the new reality out there.


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