# Pollenation and less honey



## greenbeekeeping (Feb 13, 2003)

competition, moving stresses and so on. Moving bees always sets them back a bit and there is alot of foraging competion when you may have 40-60 hives all within a field of one another.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*Pollination*

Plus you have to give the farmer half of the honey the bees make!


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

Tom G. Laury said:


> Plus you have to give the farmer half of the honey !


Well gee, the only thing I give the farmer is the BILL.


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## McCheyne (Jan 13, 2005)

ahh.. yeah, I guess it would there be some competition for the flowers. How does the setup normally work in the placement of the hives? Can you place all your beeshives in the center of the field to be pollinated or are they normally broken down into groups of X amount around the area in quadrants and such?


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*KJ Bees*

No butter, just the bill?


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## greenbeekeeping (Feb 13, 2003)

Hey Tom. I hope you don't mean that. I just give them the bill too. I may give them a 5lb jar. 

On placement. It is usually determined by the grower.


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## high rate of speed (Jan 4, 2008)

Half the honey not,maybe 40lbs.
pollination,just give them the bill.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*Half the honey*

No I didn't mean that seriously; it just kills me when someone asks how much I "make" pollinating, and then says "and you get to keep the honey too?"


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## IndianaHoney (Jun 5, 2006)

Hey Tom, how much do you make pollinating?  Just curious because I'm starting to get into pollination. What do most commercial guys charge for pollination? I know it's dependant on the crop, but I have no idea as to what I should be charging.

Oh, and I won't ask if you get to keep the honey too 

Thanks,
Gary


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*How much?*

Hi Gary

This spring I charged $140 for almond pollination with 8 frame AVERAGE. That means you can have a few weak ones. For $150+ I don't think the growers want to see any weak ones. After almonds lots of bees are looking for a home, and some later blooming crops need pollination. $20 is common for this, some more and some less, depending on how many. In the summer people do some as low as $15, but typically get to move some to a second placement for another $15. Some crops like seed alfalfa are killing fields for the bees and must pay more, 30-50$. I really can't remember the last time I did any summer pollination myself. The bees get sprayed, vandalized, starved and run over by trucks and tractors.


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## greenbeekeeping (Feb 13, 2003)

Ok Tom, I thought you were just joking. 

IndianaHoney. Here in Indiana I charge $50per hive for most crops with a 4 hive minimum. If they take a load I will go down in price.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

IndianaHoney said:


> Hey Tom, how much do you make pollinating?  Just curious because I'm starting to get into pollination. What do most commercial guys charge for pollination? I know it's dependant on the crop, but I have no idea as to what I should be charging.
> 
> Oh, and I won't ask if you get to keep the honey too
> 
> ...


Gary

I get $50/hive. I am very small, just talking 10 hives this year, maybe 20 next. But it makes a difference on the bottom line. Some spots are better than others for honey.


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## IndianaHoney (Jun 5, 2006)

WOW Tom! I don't see how you can afford to pay for fuel to move those hives. I started pollinating some pumpkins this year, and charged 50 per hive, my first pollination contract. Summer crops are my target contracts because I don't have enough hives to truck over for Almonds.

I've heard that some people are charging 90 for blueberrys in Main, 50-75 per hive here in Indiana, and I've heard of people charging as low as 10 per hive else where. My goal is to eventually pollinate across Indiana, Ohio, and then start moving hives across the states for other pollination.

If this turns out to be a good winter, I plan to expand my operation to almost a hundred hives next year. It would be nice if I could get all those out for pollination so I can afford more equipment for 2010.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

IndianaHoney said:


> Hey Tom, how much do you make pollinating?  Just curious because I'm starting to get into pollination. What do most commercial guys charge for pollination? I know it's dependant on the crop, but I have no idea as to what I should be charging.
> 
> Oh, and I won't ask if you get to keep the honey too
> 
> ...


You should be charging $100.00 per colony. Then when the rest of us visit the same grower and ask $50.00 or $60.00 they won't complain as much.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*Indiana*

How do you afford the fuel?

Well those bees aren't getting moved very far, and the ranches take them by the hundreds and thousands. Generally within flight of nectar sources. Lots of competition for the job even at that rate! On the other hand, how can you afford to take four for $50 ea $200 total? That 200 will get used op pretty fast?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

IndianaHoney said:


> I've heard that some people are charging 90 for blueberrys in Main, 50-75 per hive here in Indiana, and I've heard of people charging as low as 10 per hive else where.


I don't mean to sound picky, but charging is what one does when one is in the drivers seat, in control in other words. The way I hear it, as far as Maine is concerned, is that the growers there are offering to pay $90.00 plus, depending on the grower and the frames of brood and bees. You have to know someopne too, in order to get work for your bees.

I get what I feel is worth it or I don't go. So far, here in NY, I've gotten apple pollination up to $50.00 per colony. If I try to go to $60.00 next spring I expect to see some resistence.


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*Sqkcrk*



You got it!!!


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Tom G. Laury said:


> You got it!!!


 Now how do I get rid of it?


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## IndianaHoney (Jun 5, 2006)

Tom G. Laury said:


> On the other hand, how can you afford to take four for $50 ea $200 total? That 200 will get used op pretty fast?


It was my first contract, and I hope that word will spread that I do pollination. Besides that, I moved them 20 miles, and should only have to take three trips total to get them ready for winter, and I moved them myself without having to pay someone, so my cost is fairly low. I'll leave them there until spring, then move them back.

I have almost fourty hives, so hundreds or thousands is just not an option for me. Next year I plan to have a 10 hive minimum, and have at least 50 hives available for pollination.

Tom, I just took a look at your profile. I understand that in your stomping grounds there is lots of compitition? As for me, we have only three commercial beeks in Indiana that I am aware of. I suspect there is plenty of room for another.


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

IndianaHoney said:


> I understand that in your stomping grounds there is lots of compitition? .


The whole state of Calif.


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

Keith Jarrett said:


> The whole state of Calif.


Plus half the commercial colonies in the rest of the country.
Sheri


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

I'm charging $55/hive and am turning people away... I am taking business away from people who offer hives for $45 ... If you have the strong hives the growers will pay for quality. I already have people contacting me for next year! Maybe I should raise my prices!....

I was contacted from several folks to do pumpkin and pickles. I turned those down. One farmer contacted me later to inform me that he rented all hives for $35/hive to do his pickles. The beekeeper is truly hurting himself. When he can't make a go of it... down the line because his expenses exceed his revenue... then I or someone else will get the business.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*then I or someone else will get the business.*

FYI: I know some pollinators that refuse to place their hives in any of the vine crops.
You may need to check out the pesticides that are to be used and their timing on those cucumbers.
Hopefully your pollination works out.
Regards,
Ernie Lucas Apiaries


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Notice... I said I refused this year... there was a reason!  That is why I added the "or someone else" comment. There IS a price that would make pollination of vine crops worthwhile. I'm not quite sure what that number is... but it's higher than what I would charge for blueberries, apples etc. 

So... I left myself an out should the price not be worth it!


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

*My best advice for picking up contracts*

Word of mouth will get you more contracts. This is my second year for strawberries. They sell my honey at farmers markets too. They went to a steak roast for other growers. 

Next day i had a guy begging me for bees. He had been convinced by my client that he absolutely had to have them.

These guys, like most farmers, love to talk. They love a joke. So be prepared to chew the fat and share some bee knowledge with them, try to work in some factoids. Usually they try to get by with too few hives. So be prepared to tell them what the extension agents say for number of hives for that crop per acre.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

McCheyne said:


> I have heard that if you are commercially pollinating, your return on honey is less than if you didn't pollinate.. I was wondering what are the reasons for this?


I think they lose a significant number of field bees. I pollinated apples in NY for 20 years. I always marked the strong colonies before pollination so I could make splits in the orchard. Many times, when I tried to make the split, the colony was weaker than the week before when I inspected. The brood was still there, but the population wasn't. I figured that I lost at least a medium of honey on colonies that pollinated apples. My bees were all located within 10 miles of the orchard, and were moved at night....once in, and once out. If you figure $1.50 for bulk honey now, then that medium is worth $60. Why pollinate for $40 or $50?


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

"I_ have heard that if you are commercially pollinating, your return on honey is less than if you didn't pollinate.. I was wondering what are the reasons for this?_"

Some years, such as this one, we pull the plug on honey production early and start getting them ready for almonds, before the fall crop is totally in. In the spring, with the bees coming back so big we hopefully make that loss up and then some. This past spring that didn't happen as it rained most of the time during nectar flows. Not only did they not make much honey, because they were larger than they would have been if wintered here, they ate up a lot of what they didn't make. Pollination bees are often out of kilter with the season of where they are at any one time.
Many pollination jobs usually mean a choice between honey production and pollination fees, cranberries being one that comes to mind. Beeks in FL often have to give up orange if they take their bees to California. With the higher honey prices we are enjoying, this will be a tougher choice than it was for the past several years.
Sheri


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## apizap (Sep 15, 2008)

*hives go backwards in pollination*



Tom G. Laury said:


> No I didn't mean that seriously; it just kills me when someone asks how much I "make" pollinating, and then says "and you get to keep the honey too?"


u're lucky u get any honey. here we do kiwifruit & we have to feed while they're in the orchard!!! mind u, to compensate i guess the bill we hand to the orchardist on the way out is bigger too 

back onto the original point of hives going backwards while in pollination, i understand kiwifruit pollen is not very nutritious for the bees so that may also have an impact. dunno much abt other fruit/nuts tho'.


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## the buzz (Oct 17, 2004)

*north of the border*

Here my bees go out the end of May for 3 weeks, they pay 110 per colonie. However it cost me 6000$ for 2 semi-trailers (transportation). 5 hour drive. I'm still conteplating on honey production vs pollination 2.75$ a lb x 100-150lbs per colonie . The hives get very stressed, you lose 7% of your queens. The weak hives left behind come out stronger than the others at the end of the season. Ideally I think half for pollination in case of bad crop and half for honey production.


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## albee (Nov 16, 2006)

*$35 for pickles*

I was talking to an inspector about a guy that was doing pumpkins with 2 frames of bees and the splits were queenless. That was in central IL. I wonder if he is the same guy in IN.

The bees that are used for pollination don't winter as well. If I had to put a number on it I'm guessing your going to loose 35% to 50% by spring. Some years are better than others. Making up the winter loss is a cost that is over looked. My pollinating hives are about half the strength as the ones that were on honey. I have been feeding them for 3 weeks hope they perk up. Next year I won't do vines for less than $75. It just isn't worth it.


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