Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING => Topic started by: philinacoma on October 03, 2010, 11:40:00 am
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Does any one here hire out their hives for polination?
What do you charge and what do you put in your contract with the customer?
What are the pitfalls or gotchas to be aware of?
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http://www.aussiepollination.com.au/ (http://www.aussiepollination.com.au/)
http://www.amazingbees.com.au/pollination_service.html (http://www.amazingbees.com.au/pollination_service.html)
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As for cost not $100 sure...
The 'gotcha' with pollination is that you need the hives booming early - that means late winter feeding of pollen and possibly sugar syrup (dependent on stores) to stimulate plenty of brood. Also, some pollination crops have poor nectar availability so often your hives come back and need to go to a location with good nectar sources to re-coup.
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Not to mention they are depending on you, so if you get it wrong and stuffs up the crop, you could some one pretty angry with you.
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Starting small would be a good way to go?
Maybe go and see how others have/are doing it? If you can find them...
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Absolutely-starting small is th key-say 10 hives per location. There are some great guides for hive concentration dependent on crop and acreage. It's also important to have a well written contract with the landholder...
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Just as an example. http://maarec.psu.edu/pdfs/Pollination_Contract.pdf (http://maarec.psu.edu/pdfs/Pollination_Contract.pdf)