Top: Removing nets from a load of hives. Bottom: Offloading a semi load of bees into a temporary holding yard. Photo Credit: Matt Hoepfinger
Pallets of bees are left stacked up so it’s faster and easier to move them into almonds in the next day or two. If they arrive during the day and it is warm, live bees will be flying everywhere. Entrances are smoked as they are offloaded to keep them in, but it only helps a little. Migratory beekeepers don’t block up hive entrances when they move bees so they often move bees at dusk and dawn. That way it is light enough to see but close enough to dark and/or cool enough that the bees don’t fly much. They also move bees at night, but they need to use red lights to see, and since bees do not see in the red spectrum, they remain less active. The closer it gets to bloom the more hectic it all becomes. Unfortunately, time is in short supply in almonds and although the worst time to move bees is during the middle of a nice day, sometimes it can’t be done any other way.
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