JP.
Just be Glad you are down south.
Up here, my season is about a four month window of opportunity. I make 90% of my annual income in those 4 months.
Want to guess when many of those swarm and extraction calls come in. Yep....many in that four month period.
It's not about "education" for me. I simply do not have the time to "educate" the public by doing cutouts for ignorant homeowners, many times not willing to pay the 300 dollar minimum fee I charge anyways.
Cutouts can be an all day thing. And for me to schedule a cutout, this means it's one less day in the bee yard. I can build, graft, and produce 10-20 nucs in any given day. Even at 10 nucs, that would be $850.00 at $85.00 each. You won't ever hear me state to a customer that "I don't have your nucs ready this week because I was out "educating" the public doing a cutout.
What I have found, is that most homeowners who sprayed, did so because they were too cheap to pay anyone from the start. Then I get the call after they tried to deal with the situation with a 4 dollar can of spray, but want me to "save" the bees.
Will I "educate" a homeowner for $300 and the benefit of collecting some bees? Yes. I do it all the time. But filling my bees vac with bees dripping with poison, or haggling with a homeowner over the cost of the remains of a half dead colony, is something I pass on. Bee glad. If everyone felt like I do, that benefits you. So it is not a negative.
Myself, I hold open houses, have visitors almost every week on the farm, have spent thousands of dollars out of my own pocket starting National Honey Bee Day, a breeders association, a statewide bee association, maintain observation hives in various locations, pay for an open picnic for over 100 beekeepers every year, give speeches every year to schools for no fee, and probably mentor 20 beekeepers a year, among other things. Forgive me if I don't have the time or desire to do what you think "we" should all be doing.
Maybe you don't do what I do, and I don't do what you do. But it is not for you to say what anyone else does or does not do. I stated I do not go out for half dead sprayed colonies. You state you do. That is fine. But it is not something for you to comment or suggest others should do the same. Maybe some others like myself do have limited pockets after all the other generous "education" we supply the community.
It's nice that you can afford it. It's another thing to suggest that all beekeepers should feel the same way as you and suggest "who better?" and "we know better". To suggest we are dropping the ball by not taking the opportunity to run out and provide this service as an educational opportunity, may just be bit amiss for others. Although maybe your "It's not about the money" comment is the basis of your decision and comments, while it may matter to others who can't do charity work educating homeowners with spray cans in their hands.
Anyone who feels different and lives nearby, let me know. I will gladly pass on all the half dead poisoned sprayed extraction jobs. ;)
