# Bees wanted for orchard & berry farm



## papamoose (Apr 7, 2010)

5 minutes ago I was just reading something on this site about just this. For berries like blue and black figure 2-3 hive per acre, and for fruit trees as follows:
1 per acre for *full size* trees, of apple and most other fruits, *semi-dwarf* figure 2 hives per acre, and *dwarf* trees figure 3 hives per acre.

Hope this helps.


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

You need to decide if you are running your hives for pollination, or if you are running your hives for honey production.

The orchard wants pollination. The reason that orchards pay the beekeeper to have hives is to offset the loss of honey production the beekeeper loses by doing pollination instead of honey production.

Also, if you intend to keep your bees there year round, see what chemicals the orchard sprays. It's quite possible the reason the orchards wants bees is because the chemicals they use have killed off all the local feral hives...


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## LSPender (Nov 16, 2004)

20 to 30 hives will pollinate, charge 60.00 per hive for each season. remember, pollination is every year, honey is not. You should not have a problem keeping a big yard of bees , ie. 60 to 80 hives w/o any problemes


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## jrbbees (Apr 4, 2010)

Countryboy said:


> Also, if you intend to keep your bees there year round, see what chemicals the orchard sprays. It's quite possible the reason the orchards wants bees is because the chemicals they use have killed off all the local feral hives...



The above is a very important issue. But you could keep your hives on several trailers so you could move them out before they were to spray.

Most important! get something down in writing if they spray and kill your hives.


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## Riskybizz (Mar 12, 2010)

K-Green

The reason the growers want bees is becuase they surely realize that with sufficient pollination they will likely secure 2-3 x the fruit yield than with no importation of honeybees. Check around your area and inquire as to what other local pollinators charge. If you are also looking for a permanent bee yard location to leave bees on site that might mean a negotiated agreement with the owner of the property. Don't underestimate the value of the pollination service. That is a direct value to the owner of the property. Generally you won't secure a honey crop from early fruit bloom, so I wouldn't get too excited about securing a surplus unless the surrounding area would support that. You have not given enough information to determine how many hives might be suitable for this area. The other comments are correct; that unless this happens to be an organic operation, they will surely spray, and if they aren't spraying, the guy a mile down the road might be. Select your locations carefully after investigation. The health of your colonies should be your utmost concern.


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

So far everyone has hit the money right on the head. I think Blueberries in Maine payes 65 or 70 bucks per colony. Did the grower tell you bees generally go backwards on Blueberries? That is a huge reason to get paid for pollination. That and they generally will not make any honey that season except for the wee bit you get from the blueberries. 

You might think twice about doing it and if you decide to do it you might want to charge them a pollination service. I like to lean towards good healthy robust colonies rather than pollination services. This is not saying you cant have pollination with good healthy colonies, it just works better for me keeping good healthy colonies and not worry about pollinating.


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## bluelake (Jan 17, 2011)

I didnt plan for this to be my first post, but since im reading it....

Im looking into getting a few beehives for honey production. The idea only came to me when thinking of someday creating a small fruit tree/berry orchard just like described here.

The posts seem to imply conflicting uses/goals from the bees: pollination or honey production. My newbie understanding led me to assume that a small orchard with many flowering plants would, on principle, result in higher hopney production, but i may be wrong. Im reading so much right now that eventually I would probably understand this, but could someone get me started with the concern?


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## soupcan (Jan 2, 2005)

I would offer that you do a " drive around "!
That is drive the countryside near & around were the orchard located and for 2 to 4 miles to see if the girls have any other " things " to suck on after the trees & bushes are done blooming.
We had a orchard south of Omaha for 15 years & always made a real good to tremendous crop every year, year in & year out.
The last 4 years we never made enough honey to pay for the gas to make the 70 mile round trip every week to 10 days.
So needless to say I moved the girls out of this location last spring after splitting them.
Splits did good & the parent hives did very well also in there new location.


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## Skinner Apiaries (Sep 1, 2009)

bluelake said:


> I didnt plan for this to be my first post, but since im reading it....
> 
> Im looking into getting a few beehives for honey production. The idea only came to me when thinking of someday creating a small fruit tree/berry orchard just like described here.
> 
> The posts seem to imply conflicting uses/goals from the bees: pollination or honey production. My newbie understanding led me to assume that a small orchard with many flowering plants would, on principle, result in higher hopney production, but i may be wrong. Im reading so much right now that eventually I would probably understand this, but could someone get me started with the concern?


Depends, with little orchards or fields I usually make honey anyways, its in large macrocrops where you have to saturate with large numbers of bees you lose out. Pollinators pay because they need fruit set, dont think they pay for honey lost, they get a service. Remind them of that.


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