Do you ever wonder where beekeepers go and what they do after their honey bees have pollinated almonds?  By now, you as a grower have moved on from thoughts of bees and bloom to thoughts about post-bloom activities including disease control, pest control, fertilizing and managing for crop quality and retention.

But your beekeeper has already been thinking about next year’s almond pollination contract.  If he had significant colony losses this year, he’ll be thinking about whether or not to stay in business.  He’d have to clean equipment and start over with packages and queens.  If he had a decent-to-good year, his bees will be strong coming out of almonds and he’ll be shaking bees and making splits, already preparing colonies for the 2011 pollination season. 

Just like the almond grower thinks about the following year’s bud set and crop during and just following harvest, a beekeeper thinks about the next almond pollination season as soon as he is finishing the current almond pollination season.  After harvest, a grower considers how irrigating, pruning, and pulling older orchards will affect future crops.  After pollinating almonds, a beekeeper considers requeening, disease and pest control, the number of colonies he can adequately manage through the coming months and into winter, and how many colonies he’d like to bring to California next year.

Post-almond bloom.  A beekeeper will evaluate his colonies for strength, brood pattern, and overall health.  Strong colonies will be split.  Fumigillan treatments may be given for Nosema control.  Colonies may be sorted, with the best stock being ear-marked for next year’s almond bloom.  Also during this time, beekeepers will requeen colonies.   

Late spring and summer.  A beekeeper may travel to locations across the nation to pollinate apples, cherries, cranberries, blueberries, sunflowers, melons, seeds, and up to 90 other crops.  Whether or not they pursue other pollination contracts, all beekeepers will be looking for a diversity of food sources for their bees.   Beekeepers will carefully watch out for fungicide and pesticide exposure to their bees.  They are also monitoring colony Nosema spores and mite loads, treating when necessary.  Depending on available food sources, supplemental feeding of sugar syrup and/or protein may be necessary. 

Fall.  Again, with colony strength and pollination in mind, honey will be pulled off earlier than optimum for honey production to allow for an appropriately-timed mite treatment. Fall also brings about a natural diminishing in bee population.  This is countered by a rigorous feeding schedule of sugar and protein or pollen patties to stimulate brood production and increase overwintering populations.  Those overwintering bees are the bees that will be pollinating the next almond crop.