# Paramount Farms buys out Headwater Honey (David Mendes)



## JRG13

Great, just what we need, another 'wonderful' brand name... And to boot, they're going to tell you guys how to get it done right... win win.


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## swarm_trapper

Has anyone heard what they are going to do with the bee after almond pollination?


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## jim lyon

Wow! This just all sounds so........wonderful.
http://youtu.be/lLW_mumlri4
Atta boy Dave.


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## clyderoad

The silence is deafening.


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## Barry

That's great Jim, now every time I'm at the grocery store and I see their Wonderful product, I'll be hearing this in my head!


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## apis maximus

jim lyon said:


> Wow! This just all sounds so........wonderful.


Yes. Wonderful. Laser sharp.

As the lady sings ( and notice, she's not fat either) she says: "think of all the pleasures we'll share". 
She does. I am not making this stuff up. Just listen. Don't rush.

In the context of this thread, the singing lady just stops short on defining who the WE is. Yes, pleasure is and will be shared in this arrangement. Agreement actually.

"Under the terms of the *agreement*, Paramount Farming will now oversee and have direct access to Headwaters Farm’s beekeeping operation in Florida. The deal has officially closed. Employees of Headwaters Farm, along with the infrastructure and trucks to nurture and transport the bees in the operation’s 20,000 hives, have joined the Wonderful Bees operation. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed."

Yes indeed. In this specific joining, pleasures will be exchanged. Some, will get more than others. Poetic as it might be, notice the inspiring words in this agreement. Paramount Farming, Headwaters Farm, Wonderful Bees. Now how cool is that?

But don't get toooo dreamy...or angry about it. Because really, as the say themselves, "Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed."


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## babybee

I look forward to learn how to keep bees from Paramount farms. I am sure they will save this industry!! I can't wait to sign up for one of their classes!! Boy oh boy!!! Beekeepers have been losing one third of their bees for the last 10 years!! I hope paramount finds them!! Dave thinks they will change the way beekeeping is done???? Serious?? Still in the same box since like 1850??? How much could they change things???


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## LeeHoney

I was hoping to buy a load from Mendes after the 2016 almonds I heard nothing but good news about the bees he sold other than than they were on the mean side. Anybody recommend anybody else?


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## BMAC

Good for David Mendes.


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## bevy's honeybees

Corporate honeybees. hmmm. 

I heard the same thing about Mendes bees, about them being mean. He has a good reputation in my area (Fort Myers).


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## beeware10

LARGE DOLLARS I'll bet.


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## KQ6AR

Now they will see why pollination prices are so high.


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## Keith Jarrett

LeeHoney said:


> I was hoping to buy a load from Mendes after the 2016 almonds Anybody recommend anybody else?


Larry Johnson, k&L honey, look under "for sale thread" good beeman & good bees.


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## Sadler91

Well he finally did it. Dave is laughing all the way to the bank now


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## suttonbeeman

Ive seen his bees after almonds. Very Very nice bees but mean as hell. Had some in my front yard two yrs ago after almonds and had tovwear a veil if outside. Bought some 300 cells three yrs ago. really productive, great brood patterns and hardy but HOT. Farmers I had bees on complained So I requeened. Really good bees but had a temper.


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## jfb58

This is great news, you should celebrate whenever a neighbor gets a great price for his house.


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## jim lyon

This is only making news because of who the buyer is. Regardless of what ones personal feelings are about Paramount, when you consider how much they must spend on pollination each year and how important it is to their success, such vertical integration probably makes a lot of sense for them. The irony, they may find, is that their concerns about contracting adequate pollination may just be replaced with worries about the general health of their own bees. And Dave? Well he has been around long enough to have survived the lean times and no doubt remembers that it wasn't too many years ago that you would be hard pressed to find a buyer for a large bee operation. So good for him, he got a nice payback for his life's work. For the industry I fail to see where a whole lot changes aside from the shuffling of some pollination contracts. The ownership of less than 1% of the nations bees has changed hands........at least so far.


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## JRG13

I felt happy for Mendes as well, maybe he got the last laugh... time will tell.


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## babybee

Maybe you guys didn't read the whole article?!?! These arrogant guys plan to start a beekeeping training program to promote beekeeping careers for college students!!!! Umm so when I retire they can have a job. This is crazy. I care nothing of the sale itself, just the level of arrogance. That's it. Sorry I missed the great Dr. at the south dakota beekeepers meeting. Maybe this guy will save the whole industry since in their eyes it's so broken. But good for Mendes.


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## Honey-4-All

There were rumors this was going down for quite a while. If Mr.M. got the big money congrats to him. 

As a life long free market Republican I think this might be just another signal that the doors on "Small farming" and the Homestead mentality are swinging shut and might be on its last
breath in the US. 



Couple of wild eyed predictions of what might be coming in the future:

1. Look for the "wonderful" brand of Blueberries to hit the shelves here shortly with wonderful apples to show shortly thereafter. That way they will have all the corners covered ( California, Florida, Maine, and Washington.) 

Could Wonderful pineapples from there Hawaiian queen operation be next? 

2. Money spent by them on research will lead to "proprietary" status chemicals whereby they have the distinction of having access to "in house only " mite treatments.

3. Look for the new "standards" that there programs develop to become "law" in California where anyone with bees will now have to abide by the same wisdom as developed by the "bee-lite" 

4. The water grab from the north on there part is going to be reheated. Upon his demise look for Gov Brown to be buried under "the tunnels" in a secret vault emblazoned with the initials of purchasers "SJR". 

5.Confirmation will be received regarding the rumor that I heard from my booky that the odds in Vegas are high that anyone named Bell or Adee currently have drones flying over their operations doing legwork on the next acquisition! 

6.Keep in mind that this is the company that used a gaggle of lawyer to hound beekeepers and buy votes in the seedless mandarin issue a few years back. 

Will that be coming to a bee yard by you once they move next door? Look for it.


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## JRG13

It wasn't missed on us Baby. I was honestly soured at the thought of old Stewie leading the helm of this new venture. The water politics alone, mentioned by Honey-4-All as well, get me going so this just adds fuel to the fire. Don't be fooled by their 'generosity' either, I don't think they tackle any business venture w/o thinking about all the $$ to be made and what little guys they need to step on to be the big boys.


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## MNbees

When a big player with a lot of means gets involved they are able to do things we cannot. For example there is little to no representation for the beekeeping industry in politics, I mean i dont know of any beekeepers hiring lobbyists to go to washington. Even though a lot of you think your a big deal it means nothing to the general public. Face it, to many we are all just a bunch cooks chasing bees. (I like it that way) 
If Paramount is going to be successful with the bees they are going to have to think like a beekeeper and not like a crop farmer. That will tie the two together and then maybe we can get a little repect in the Ag industry.


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## beeware10

I grew up on a dairy farm and 50 cows was a fair sized herd. today the local farms average 1500- 3500 milking cows. agriculture has changed. because beekeeping is a smaller industry and labor intensive changes take longer. most commercial guys are a lot bigger than 20 yrs ago. one of our local 3500 cow farms is owned by some insurance company. the buy out by paramount is just a sign of the times. they have a long road as management and labor will be their weakness. we used to pollinate a local company that bought up orchards and they had their own processing plant. we used to supply them 600 hives. got paid in 10 days. life was good. they sold the farms off as they found they could buy apples cheaper than producing them. when an individual owns a business he has a drive to survive that no company has. time will see if they will survive but odds are against them. wait and see.


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## apis maximus

MNbees said:


> Face it, to many we are all just a bunch cooks chasing bees. (I like it that way)


I face it and I embrace it. Clearly you do the same. And, not only that, but you like it. You in MN, me in NC, as cookoo as we are, our bess, I am sure do not mind us chasing them. It's a two way love affair. At least. I like it that way even better.



MNbees said:


> If Paramount is going to be successful with the bees they are going to have to think like a beekeeper and not like a crop farmer. That will tie the two together and then maybe we can get a little repect in the Ag industry.


Some massive contradictions in that fine statement. But fine, because it points to the two contradictions that jump right out.
Paramount, will be successful at making money. That is first. 

Bees, or the bees, will be the background story. It is always a great story. Captures, amplifies and gets the advocating mind going. 
Unfortunately, often on a side track. Not a bad one, not a good one. Just different.

Things that are together, do not need tying.

To quote another fine gentleman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCVR_ajL_Eo


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## clyderoad

babybee said:


> Maybe you guys didn't read the whole article?!?! These arrogant guys plan to start a beekeeping training program to promote beekeeping careers for college students!!!! Umm so when I retire they can have a job. This is crazy. I care nothing of the sale itself, just the level of arrogance. That's it. Sorry I missed the great Dr. at the south dakota beekeepers meeting. Maybe this guy will save the whole industry since in their eyes it's so broken. But good for Mendes.


you can't teach "hard work".


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## JRG13

I kind of laughed at the college graduate thing myself, not to offend anyone, but there are so many other routes to take in college which lead to higher paying jobs that are a lot less work than beekeeping. Also, I think that putting in a season or two with a good commercial beek would set you up with all the knowledge you need and not have to spend tens of thousands of dollars doing it.


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## loggermike

Almond growers consider beekeeping
http://www.agalert.com/story/?id=7712
Seemed like a good place to post this.


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## Flyer Jim

loggermike said:


> Almond growers consider beekeeping
> http://www.agalert.com/story/?id=7712
> Seemed like a good place to post this.


Here is your chance to ask the good Dr.

http://deltabeeclub.org/


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## RAK

paramount looking for beekeepers with no experience and a 4 year degree.

http://monterey.craigslist.org/sci/4899201193.html


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## JRG13

Didn't know whether to laugh or cry....


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## Honey-4-All

JRG13 said:


> Didn't know whether to laugh or cry....


Unless they get this gig down to something no one has yet been able to do ( which is possible considering their meteoric rise in the rest of the farming they do) its going to be pretty tough to compete pay wise if the whole crew needs a college degree, fluent in spanish as well as english and happen to know how to program in HTML5 as well. Most people in that category will not wish for the poor hours and sore backs at $30k a year.

The only way they will beat the rest of us is through the cost savings of being both horizontally and vertically integrated.


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## grozzie2

Honey-4-All said:


> Unless they get this gig down to something no one has yet been able to do ( which is possible considering their meteoric rise in the rest of the farming they do) its going to be pretty tough to compete pay wise if the whole crew needs a college degree, fluent in spanish as well as english


Highly unlikely the whole crew needs all that, but, after a buyout like this one, it's very normal to recruit over qualified folks into entry level positions. The intent is, a relatively rapid rise thru the ranks to learn the basics of the business, so they have 'company indoctrinated' folks at the ready when the original principles make the departure. A buyout like this typically involves a minimum timeframe for the original principles to stay on, and they will be expected to train and groom a replacement during that period.

One of those business or ag grads they are trolling for right now, will end up head of the division 3 years from now, and the original owner will likely only be in the role of advisor thru a seat on the board, entirely removed from day to day operations. That's the normal progression for this type of buyout.


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## JRG13

Phil hit it a little more realistically for me. I don't see an intern becoming the division head in 3 years with just an Ag degree. My point was, read that description, that's something I'd write up for highschool level positions, not something for a college degree which makes me want to laugh, but it makes me want to cry to see they want a college educated person to haul bees around for pollinations for the reason's Honey-4-All stated so well.


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## loggermike

Succeed or fail, its going to be interesting to watch this play out. All that money aimed at beekeeping could spin off some positive results for the industry.


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## sqkcrk

jfb58 said:


> This is great news, you should celebrate whenever a neighbor gets a great price for his house.


:thumbsup:


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## sqkcrk

jim lyon said:


> This is only making news because of who the buyer is. Regardless of what ones personal feelings are about Paramount, when you consider how much they must spend on pollination each year and how important it is to their success, such vertical integration probably makes a lot of sense for them. The irony, they may find, is that their concerns about contracting adequate pollination may just be replaced with worries about the general health of their own bees. And Dave? Well he has been around long enough to have survived the lean times and no doubt remembers that it wasn't too many years ago that you would be hard pressed to find a buyer for a large bee operation. So good for him, he got a nice payback for his life's work. For the industry I fail to see where a whole lot changes aside from the shuffling of some pollination contracts. The ownership of less than 1% of the nations bees has changed hands........at least so far.


:thumbsup:


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## jean-marc

Hear hear loggermike. New cash into a bee business is good. From Paramount's perspective it is still cheaper to run your own bees, even at higher than market costs, than the cost of not having them. A neighbour is doing this. They are doing a poor job of it because of under funding. Upper management is resistant to spend more money but as they loosen the purse strings the field results are better. I guess anybody getting into bees may think that they will be able to do it profitably but likely a high motivator is insuring the supply side. Another way to insure the supply side is to loosen purse strings and offer say 10% mre than others and there will be no end of bees available. Knowing bees and the bee business I would tend to just pay more for the bees and seek out the top notch guys out there. Some people always have good bees, come rain or shine, high honey prices or not, crop or not they just find a way to keep good bees.

I wish Paramount well. It for sure interests me, either way. If they are successful at this everybody's outfit just increased in value by 10-15%. Other almond growers will want in. If they fail then the beekeepers can justify a price increase. I do not think the beekeeping industry can loose.

The only way that Paramount can be profitable at this is if they chase around pollination jobs and or a honey crop just like everybody else. Unless they know something that I do not $180/hive, the pollination going rate for 8 frames of bees on almonds (or so I hear) is just not enough. 

Paramount needs to line up some key players. Those key players tend to want to be owners, so they will need fairly large salaries to keep around. This puts upward pressure on their costs. 

One thing for sure, Paramount has got a few sharp people around. They are a huge business. This is not by accident. They were not just lucky or dad gave them the farm. An empire was built, so why not with the bees? Final say "they can do it, won't be cheap".

Jean-Marc


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## Corrina

Curious if Dave Mendes is still working for Beeologics? I remember he got involved with them after Monsanto bought them.


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## high rate of speed

I was under the understanding that was shut down.after Monsanto bought. Maybe wrong?


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## jim lyon

I thought I would resurrect this thread to see if anyone has any knowledge of whether Paramounts first year foray into the business of beekeeping was in fact wonderful.


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## Keith Jarrett

Jim, they are offering $160 for bees right now, don't know anybody that would go in for that cheap though.


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## JRG13

What you talking about Keith, that's a W♥nderful price.....


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## jim lyon

Keith Jarrett said:


> Jim, they are offering $160 for bees right now, don't know anybody that would go in for that cheap though.


"They" meaning Paramount errrr Wonderful? What have they required in the past, 8 comb averages?


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## Honey-4-All

Keith Jarrett said:


> Jim, they are offering $160 for bees right now, don't know anybody that would go in for that cheap though.


This ought be to as easy to dice up as any Blueberry pie Mr Production has ever sliced. In line with all those other genius beekeeping moves you make happen. Simple as 1, 2, 3. 

Sp/lit those boomers out of Nevada. Pay the queen guy $40 for hardy ( well maybe) December queens that shoot eggs as fast as Christmas presents falling out of an overturned sleigh. 

After ten bucks each for the help, feed, and gas you will still make more than 2x your money in less than three months. 



Since your have a propensity to knock it out of the park with anyone named Stuart this out to be an easy one to arrange.


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## Chip Euliss

Anybody know what Dave Mendes is doing? Met him a few times at meetings; nice guy.


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## Sadler91

As I stated in the Almond price thread, I have heard a few things. True or not, who knows? I heard that they lost 30% more than what is considered acceptable and they fired the Florida managers. They have been calling around looking for extra bees to fulfill their contracts that they have with other growers. I heard somewhere around 20k-30k hives short. I also heard of a larger beekeeper down here that they called about shipping bees to them told them to "stick it where the sun don't shine". Not his exact words lol


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## Sadler91

Chip Euliss said:


> Anybody know what Dave Mendes is doing? Met him a few times at meetings; nice guy.


Heard he is working as a mechanic.


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## jean-marc

Guess the financial terms of the deal weren't so wonderful.

Jean-Marc


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## Michael Palmer

He visited a friend of mine up in Maine, and I was told Dave is spending lots of time hanging out on his boat in the Gulf.


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## AstroZomBEE

Michael Palmer said:


> He visited a friend of mine up in Maine, and I was told Dave is spending lots of time hanging out on his boat in the Gulf.


I heard Dave bought the boat, but Eli was the one catching all the fish.


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## sqkcrk

Eli has been Posting on Facebook, under the Commercial Beekeeping Forum, showing the truck racks and Bobcat trailers he has been building. So I doubt he has been fishing much.


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## AstroZomBEE

sqkcrk said:


> Eli has been Posting on Facebook, under the Commercial Beekeeping Forum, showing the truck racks and Bobcat trailers he has been building. So I doubt he has been fishing much.


http://www.news-press.com/story/new...d-fish-caught-at-swfl-charity-event/28642511/

Mark, check out that news story, they have some spelling wrong, and credit the boat tot he wrong brother, but good nonetheless.


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## AstroZomBEE

jim lyon said:


> I thought I would resurrect this thread to see if anyone has any knowledge of whether Paramount's first year foray into the business of beekeeping was in fact wonderful.


I heard Wonderful's Florida operation was not able to keep anywhere near the amount of bees they wanted for upcoming pollination.

I can't prove any of it, just hearsay.


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## IUBees

Does anyone know if any other apiaries are selling? Specifically, a business that engages in pollination contracts with farmers.


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## Honey-4-All

IUBees said:


> Does anyone know if any other apiaries are selling? Specifically, a business that engages in pollination contracts with farmers.


Say what? How about a clarification. What, Where, How big??????


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## IUBees

Honey-4-All said:


> Say what? How about a clarification. What, Where, How big??????


100 to 1000 hives? A mid sized commercial pollination firm. Really just trying to gather enough research on a business sales price for an apiary that contracts with farmers who need pollination services. Can anyone help?


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## Fusion_power

With equipment and bee prices where they are, you won't see anything less than $200,000 for 1000 colonies of quality bees. Add supers, extracting equipment, and other incidentals, and the price can easily exceed $500,000. Then you have to ask if pollination contracts and locations come with the sale. Depending on the value of the contracts, the price might get above $750,000.


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## Honey-4-All

Fusion_power said:


> With equipment and bee prices where they are, you won't see anything less than $200,000 for 1000 colonies of quality bees. Add supers, extracting equipment, and other incidentals, and the price can easily exceed $500,000. Then you have to ask if pollination contracts and locations come with the sale. Depending on the value of the contracts, the price might get above $750,000.


Agreed! 

We have been buying bees out of the almonds to make up nucs for many years. This year the answer was "up $20 a hive" way back months ago before the die off was clear. All the while my request to drag a few more off their pile was "no can do." Good luck finding any "used" ones coming off the almond grid at less than 200 bucks at this point.

Live bees at this point are like gold even if they might be Carni's!


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## IUBees

Honey-4-All said:


> Agreed!
> 
> We have been buying bees out of the almonds to make up nucs for many years. This year the answer was "up $20 a hive" way back months ago before the die off was clear. All the while my request to drag a few more off their pile was "no can do." Good luck finding any "used" ones coming off the almond grid at less than 200 bucks at this point.
> 
> Live bees at this point are like gold even if they might be Carni's!


Are bees that come from the almond fields typically a better bee or what? I'm not following the significance to bees and almonds. I know that almonds require the most pollination from bees, thus have the highest rental price.


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## sqkcrk

IUBees said:


> 100 to 1000 hives? A mid sized commercial pollination firm. Really just trying to gather enough research on a business sales price for an apiary that contracts with farmers who need pollination services. Can anyone help?


Enough research for what? What's the nature of your curiosity, IUBees?


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## Fusion_power

About 2 million colonies of bees one way or another are involved in almond pollination. When they come out of the almonds, they are often sold either to be broken up as nucs or carried on to other pollination or honey production locations. This means there are a relatively large number of colonies "available" at the end of almond bloom therefore the ideal time to purchase is sometime in March. As H4A alluded, the price of almond bees this year is up significantly because the supply is short. Refer back to the statement that colonies will be $200 and up each.

You could always marry the beekeepers daughter, he retires to Florida, and you get the bees by default... along with the headaches, the second opinion over your shoulder from the daughter, and a ton of derelict equipment that needs to be replaced.


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## wildbranch2007

Fusion_power said:


> You could always marry the beekeepers daughter, he retires to Florida, and you get the bees by default... along with the headaches, the second opinion over your shoulder from the daughter, and a ton of derelict equipment that needs to be replaced.


:lpf:


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## KatieBee Honey

Word on the grapevine and from a friend who pollinates for Paramount is that wonderful bees is down to 5000 from the 30,000 or so that they had. This makes me happy, but also confused because I was sure that they were gonna come in and figure out what all of us stupid, uneducated beekeepers were doing wrong and save the industry. So much for that. I also know a broker around the Fresno area who had guys from Paramount approach a couple of his loaded trucks at a truck stop. They got the owner of the bees information from the drivers, contacted them offering a higher price and sent the bees to their own orchards leaving the broker and his grower with out bees.

We usually use around 2000 mated queens in the spring to make our nucs. Most of them come from one particular producer in Ca. We start our orders Jan 2nd. They always begin shipping for us around the first week of April. Not this year. Earliest we can get queens from them is mid May. The part that concerns me tho is that every other queen producer we contact has the same story, not shipping till late may. There is no obvious reason for this. Weather is good, none of them have claimed to have any major crashes. I've asked for an explanation. It makes me wonder, and this is pure speculation, but if Wonderful has these huge losses, its gonna take a whole lot of early April queens to get their numbers back any where close to what they had. If they are willing to steal bees at truck stops i'm sure they have no problem calling all of the major queen producers and buying up all April shipments at a higher bid. So, any other of you commercial guys hearing this about your April queens? It isn't just me experiencing this. It's most of the other beekeepers i know who are at 1000+ colonies.


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## Fusion_power

The best fertilizer for a garden is the footprints of the gardener. The guy who owns the bees works his butt off to make sure he can meet commitments and keep the bees alive and thriving. You can apply this to beekeeping and fairly easily find out why the big money big farmer interests experienced so many teething pains. Hired help is there for a pay check.


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## jim lyon

Well you can't do much with a mated queen unless you have access to the brood and bees you need to complete the package. While I understand the problem people have with Paramount I hate to wish anyone ill will, this can be a tough business and I can't say I'm shocked that things haven't gone smoothly for them, a poorly managed bee operation can go down hill pretty quickly. Queens are typically at a premium this time of year, and this year apparently even more so, no great mystery there. Unless you booked early or are a regular customer, expecting to find mated queens in April has never been easy. 
As far as the reneging on contracts, that one isn't on Paramount, all they did was make an offer though I will concede that it was a bit unethical. Its the owner of the bees that decided to accept the offer and leave his previous customer in the lurch. He had better hope Paramount needs bees next year as well, cause it sounds like he burned some bridges.


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## KatieBee Honey

Queens are typically at a premium this time of year, and this year apparently even more so, no great mystery there. Unless you booked early or are a regular customer, expecting to find mated queens in April has never been easy. 

We are regular customers. I order a lot of queens from the same company every year on the same schedule. Like I said, just speculation and of course there are a lot of other possible reasons. I just hate Paramount so this reason sounds best


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## KatieBee Honey

As far as the reneging on contracts, that one isn't on Paramount, all they did was make an offer though I will concede that it was a bit unethical. Its the owner of the bees that decided to accept the offer and leave his previous customer in the lurch. He had better hope Paramount needs bees next year as well, cause it sounds like he burned some bridges.[/QUOTE]

It's just down right sneaky and dirty. If your wife runs off with some smooth talking guy I'm sure it's her fault for choosing to do so, but I bet you'd be pretty pissed off at the guy anyway. It might be the beekeeper who chose to send his bees with Paramount, but for Paramount to sit at truck stops looking for loads to take is just ridiculous. They have no concern for real beekeepers or those who we provide for. They proved that with the citrus drama a few years ago


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## jim lyon

KatieBee Honey said:


> We are regular customers. I order a lot of queens from the same company every year on the same schedule. Like I said, just speculation and of course there are a lot of other possible reasons. I just hate Paramount so this reason sounds best


Yes, I get that frustration if you are a regular customer. It sounds like there is a pretty high demand for bees and queens right now. Hey, if blaming Paramount makes you feel better then go for it.


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## KatieBee Honey

jim lyon said:


> Yes, I get that frustration if you are a regular customer. It sounds like there is a pretty high demand for bees and queens right now. Hey, if blaming Paramount makes you feel better then go for it.


well, Paramount and Obama....ha!


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## HarryVanderpool

First of all, we don't know for absolute certain that any of this is true or even close to true.
If some total stranger called you from a truck stop on their cell phone offering to pay you $50.00 more or $100.00 if you were willing to redirect the truck would you agree to that? 
Really?
My cell phone rang about a week prior to our bees heading into almonds from a trucker offering me a screaming deal to haul my bees.
"Where did you get my number", I asked?
" Cough, cough,,,ahem,, a,, a-well, you see, it must of been, ,,, lets see......".
Yeah. Like I am going to load my hives on his trucks!!!

We are all aware of internet scams and telephone scammers. 
We need to keep our eyes open and thoughts clear to be ready to quickly identify beekeeping scams.


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## jim lyon

I have no idea what Wonderful's hive numbers were this winter, nor do I have any other first hand information regarding their business though rumors were in no short supply. I do, however, have first hand information that they were actively seeking bees just prior to almond bloom and that they were offering extraordinary pricing for ordinary bees.


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## SRatcliff

Well, Monopoly is one of the first games we learn as kids, right?


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