# Word through the Almond Grove



## simplyhoney (Sep 14, 2004)

Twas the night before grading and all through the Cali,
Not a beekeeper was sleeping cause most were feeding.
Pollen sub and syrup were bought with cheeky smiles,
for all the beeks knew that it would make bees in piles and piles.....

I'll stop there no need to bore you with another one of my silly poems. The word in the almond groves is that the Farmers are playing hard ball. They are wanting to get bees below $100. There was a surplus last year. A few big guys with crappy bees got the boot from some big orchards and the farmers were able to find better replacements. So now there shopping around like women in shopping malls for handbags, more than before. Grading may be tuff ...be ready.

Glad to hear that everyones bees are doing well on beesource. Mine are 14 frames.........every single one


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

I wish them luck.....beeks from the mid west will still go to ca...but may not put that much money into the bees to build them. Us beeks from the east coast will stay on the east coast. Bet at under $100 they will get a shortage! I wonder if those $80 signs were put in the orchards by growers trying to lower the price! I have had numerous calls from beeks/brokers looking for bees. I dont think that there are that many extra bees in Ca. One call last week had broker short 2000 colonies.


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

Just an impression, but it seems that there are less bees sitting in yards here, less bees in the newspaper and less aggression securing contracts. $110 and lower, I doubt many bee guys are signing up. California Hold em.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Tom G. Laury said:


> California Hold em.


Sounds like a fair description. High stakes poker. Folks on both sides betting a big piece of their annual income. Glad I'm not in it. I was always a rotten gambler.....


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

Like Tom suggested...I'm holdin ....have been for two months ..IF price is under 100 in my pocket I'll walk away. If price hits 150+ Ill cash in my chips.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Mine are 14 frames

It's hard to believe 14 frames in cold weather.
Can you explain the high frame count considering that the cluster disposes of old bees last fall.
Or, you are pulling my shoe laces.
Ernie


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

If the price drops *I will stay home.*
This is late, very late to be negotiating contracts.
Those "hard ball" almond growers can be hurt on the pollination and fertilization of the flowers.
Cheap bees + low frame counts + bad pollination weather = disaster.
Live and learn.
I had a "broker" contact me and he was trying to get me to reduce my fee because he said that he has a grower that is supposed to have a cheaper source.
I "explained" to him fine go right ahead with your other contact and when you cal back my pollination fees will be raised $20.00 to $30.00!
Ernie


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

*Old Time Sayings*

It never pays to gamble.


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

I am not negotating...I just didnt sign what I was offered as I won't to go for less than 100 in my pocket. I am really not gambling.....as TOm said it doesnt pay to gamble. However if there ends up being a shortage I'll have load I can send with 10+ frame average. If not I'll stay in Fl make nucs and honey. With all this extended cold weather, poor fall flow there are going to be alot of dead outs come March. I also hear package producers are booked until late may. Looks like a good demand for nucs and my prospests for a good honey flow this summer are good and I can increase numbers. NOW if we get a big freeze in FL in the next I may change my thinking!


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

Good for you, Rick, I mean that. I just got off the phone with an outfit that I have not worked with in the past. Approximately need 1,000 colonies. Want 8 frame average, 5 fr minimum. Want to pay $100. They are going to keep looking till they find them at that price, which they probably will, but not until about March 20!


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Beekeeping is sure nice in that options are available. Make nucs and honey or pollinate. Rick, at what point do you have to commit to the nuc customers? I mean say somebody wanted 1000 nucs and you kinda have the bees, assuming you cherry picked your hives you can make 50 per day, 250 per week, 1000 in a month. At a certain date you need to decide one or the other even if the good contract comes 3-4 days later. Say you send bees to California and they come back good and strong you can run out of time to take advantage of their strength especially for the one man show. Bees are on the point of swarming and they do because you just can't harvest bees fast enough to make your nucs.

Anyways it's good to be in a position where you can decide your fate. Best of luck to all.

Jean-Marc


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

We have sold about 200 without promoting hardly at all. With the winter we are getting, the fall(non-existant flow)we had there will be a large bee loss over much of Tn, KY, Oh, Pa, ect. Nucs will be made up starting late Feb, I am not going to try and sell alot more until after first of Feb and see where I'm at. I can get 200 easy after almonds....I think there will be a huge shortage of bees in alot of east US. Therefore unless I can get 150 or more in almonds I'll stay home.


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

Tom G. Laury said:


> but not until about March 20!


HEE HEE. lol


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## MadBowbee (Oct 10, 2006)

Well, Tom you are back from Hawaii I see. Get a sunburn, while I was here in the fog putting more pollen patties on and culling weak ones?


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

Hi Bowbee!

No, I went down to the beach shack where there is a sunscreen dispenser like for mayonnaise at the county fair. Man, the color of the water is something else. Yes, back to REALITY.


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## simplyhoney (Sep 14, 2004)

bees4U,
Bees aren't in Colorado. Down south now. And yes like most on this silly blog, my good bees are good and the bad bees are bad. All in all 90 % will average 8-10 frames.
Tom, Where did you go in Hawii. I grew up on Oahu. Lots of mites out yonder now.


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

I hear almond prices are way up. $1.70 for the pollinator varieties ,up from a below production price of .70.
Bee supply? Still unknown.

8 frames of bees for $100 ? No freakin way...:lpf::lpf:


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## CentralPAguy (Feb 8, 2009)

I need to ask this question, who is our competition when it comes to Almond Pollination. 

Do a lot of Almond bees come up from Mexico, where labor/supplies is cheap or would they get stopped at the border if only to keep Africanized bees out of United States. 

Doesn't a huge volume of bees come in from Australia or is just the queens?


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## swarm_trapper (Jun 19, 2003)

the biggest competition for almonds is a USA beekeeper in CA who is desperate!


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## simplyhoney (Sep 14, 2004)

california beekeepers are RARLY "desperate" They are too busy brokering bees, or selling packages to out going beeks from California in the spring, or selling queens, or counting their money
The guys you are thinking of, Swarmcatcher, are the "get rich quickies" that ship their bees out to the almonds without contract or representation and after every thing is rented and they are still in the holding yard making calls they finally drop their price to $80, in hopes of getting them rented instead of shipping them back to Maine or where ever they may have come from.


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## swarm_trapper (Jun 19, 2003)

sorry i meant out of state beekeepers in CA with out a contract.


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

*SimplyHoney*

That's a big 10 4


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## Bens-Bees (Sep 18, 2008)

I've heard some almond growers are trying to turn to mason bees... don't know how much serious competition that really is for us though... probably not much, if any.


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## jjgbee (Oct 12, 2006)

One corporate farm used solitary bees and bragged that they worked great. Only 200 bees per acre. Problem with their experiment was that they did not observe the orchard all day long. A friend told me that he was in the orchard around noon and saw a huge population of honey bees. The nearest honey bees were 1 mile away. The corp. did not use them the next year.


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