# How hard is it on a hive to make the migration to California from the east coast?



## Qvox (May 21, 2015)

What kind of losses would a beek expect migrating his hives from the east coast to California for almond pollination?

Are the hives insured against loss or theft? If so, what's the cost of the insurance? 

I know the pollination contracts can be lucrative, but putting your livelihood on the back of a truck and sending it to the other side of the continent seems fraught with risk. Especially since many use broker services or contract others who are handling the transportation and setup on the other end.


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## Sadler91 (Nov 6, 2011)

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Beekeeping is farming. Risk is involved in everything we do. We have noticed that we lose more hives after a honey flow than we do shipping them across the country. Easy to run out queens with beego when you are pulling honey. Maybe we should slow down and be more careful lol


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## Jacobee (Dec 27, 2011)

I see some of the best hives come from florida. they make the trek just fine, as long as your driver does a good job. don't let that stop you the hives come out of almonds looking great. you have to be on top of drivers as they want to take lunch during daytime. I seen a load almost completely killed off due to lazy driver this year, but that is the not commen. that is the chance we take


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## crocodilu911 (Apr 17, 2015)

Qvox said:


> What kind of losses would a beek expect migrating his hives from the east coast to California for almond pollination?
> 
> Are the hives insured against loss or theft? If so, what's the cost of the insurance?
> 
> I know the pollination contracts can be lucrative, but putting your livelihood on the back of a truck and sending it to the other side of the continent seems fraught with risk. Especially since many use broker services or contract others who are handling the transportation and setup on the other end.


I would ship via refrigerated truck. they do not get stopped at aggstations and with a cool 45F to 55F bees travel great. 
you need to make sure they have enough feed on them leaving home. if you can't then your contractor in California, that will unload and set the bees for you can feed ( most of them offer this option). these days you can insure anything for everything, so I am sure you can look into various forms of insurance.


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## sjvbee (Dec 27, 2006)

All trucks have to stop at ag stations. Know of several that have tried reefer trucks and have bad out comes. I have yet to find insurance for bees equipment yes bees no


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## crocodilu911 (Apr 17, 2015)

sjvbee said:


> All trucks have to stop at ag stations. Know of several that have tried reefer trucks and have bad out comes. I have yet to find insurance for bees equipment yes bees no


i shipped 10000 hives in 2013 and 2014 all via reefer trucks, and maybe 3-5 of them got pulled over at ag stations. i had 2 in 2013 that got sufocated because the driver did not monitor his stuff, and so he killed 2 semi loads, but i had no issues in 2014. we had to do some modifications to the inside of the van , so that the bees don;t get into the vent holes and plug them up. we used some screens and framing for that. the company shipped the same this year, and had no issues with it. that's over 20 semi loads, it works, it's hard to load, because you need a good crew and most of it has to be done by hand inside the van, but we had barely any loses going there and back. another trick is, to have the van at 40-45 when you start loading, even if it heats the unit for running with the doors open, it has to, otherwise if you wait for the van to be full and then you turn it on, it will not work so good. also, you need to use straps on your pallets, so that they don;t move during transit. like i said, a crew of 8 and 2 forklifts, would load a semi in about 2 h. that is lifting pallets, stacking them , cleaning every one of them with water for ants and bugs, strapping them, loading them, and pull/ set them in the van.

like evrything , if you do it right, it works. if you half a#!%&@ it then it will not. it all depends on the people doing the job.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

crocodilu911 said:


> i shipped 10000 hives in 2013 and 2014 all via reefer trucks, and maybe 3-5 of them got pulled over at ag stations. i had 2 in 2013 that got sufocated because the driver did not monitor his stuff, and so he killed 2 semi loads, but i had no issues in 2014. we had to do some modifications to the inside of the van , so that the bees don;t get into the vent holes and plug them up. we used some screens and framing for that. the company shipped the same this year, and had no issues with it. that's over 20 semi loads, it works, it's hard to load, because you need a good crew and most of it has to be done by hand inside the van, but we had barely any loses going there and back. another trick is, to have the van at 40-45 when you start loading, even if it heats the unit for running with the doors open, it has to, otherwise if you wait for the van to be full and then you turn it on, it will not work so good. also, you need to use straps on your pallets, so that they don;t move during transit. like i said, a crew of 8 and 2 forklifts, would load a semi in about 2 h. that is lifting pallets, stacking them , cleaning every one of them with water for ants and bugs, strapping them, loading them, and pull/ set them in the van.
> 
> like evrything , if you do it right, it works. if you half a#!%&@ it then it will not. it all depends on the people doing the job.


2 loads out of 20 were killed? Think I'll stick with flat beds. They aren't idiot proof (and I've trusted a few idiots to haul them) but at least there is more margin for error and they are a heck of a lot easier to load and unload.


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## Brian Suchan (Apr 6, 2005)

Were those 2 loads insured??


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

jim lyon said:


> (and I've trusted a few idiots to haul them)


HHmmmm......


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## Qvox (May 21, 2015)

crocodilu911 said:


> i shipped 10000 hives in 2013 and 2014 all via reefer trucks, and maybe 3-5 of them got pulled over at ag stations. i had 2 in 2013 that got sufocated because the driver did not monitor his stuff, and so he killed 2 semi loads, but i had no issues in 2014. we had to do some modifications to the inside of the van , so that the bees don;t get into the vent holes and plug them up. we used some screens and framing for that. the company shipped the same this year, and had no issues with it. that's over 20 semi loads, it works, it's hard to load, because you need a good crew and most of it has to be done by hand inside the van, but we had barely any loses going there and back. another trick is, to have the van at 40-45 when you start loading, even if it heats the unit for running with the doors open, it has to, otherwise if you wait for the van to be full and then you turn it on, it will not work so good. also, you need to use straps on your pallets, so that they don;t move during transit. like i said, a crew of 8 and 2 forklifts, would load a semi in about 2 h. that is lifting pallets, stacking them , cleaning every one of them with water for ants and bugs, strapping them, loading them, and pull/ set them in the van.
> 
> like evrything , if you do it right, it works. if you half a#!%&@ it then it will not. it all depends on the people doing the job.


So on the reefer you used a forklift to get them onto the truck, and then from there everything was muscle? Your crews were stacking commercial pallets by hand?

How many hives will fit in a reefer? Is it the same as a flatbed?

Last question, you said only a few trucks were pulled over at ag stations, don't all hives going into California have to go through ag inspection? ...or can they do it at the local level?


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

I realize that this is a tangent, but the most reliable out of state package supplier brought his packages in, and stored them in, a reefer. The bees where alot less stressed than those not doing temperature control. Done right, it appears to have advantages.

Crazy Roland


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## Qvox (May 21, 2015)

Roland said:


> I realize that this is a tangent, but the most reliable out of state package supplier brought his packages in, and stored them in, a reefer. The bees where alot less stressed than those not doing temperature control. Done right, it appears to have advantages.
> 
> Crazy Roland


For transport it seems to make sense.


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## Nick Noyes (Apr 28, 2005)

The guys I know shipping in reefers can only get about 300 hives per load do to the large amount of heat the bees produce.
Make sure you hire trucks that specialize in hauling bees and put them on flatbeds. Trucks that specialize in bee hauling most generally don't work cheap.


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