Fair share of the harvest

mat · June 02, 2011, 11:31:31 AM

I finely found a farmer growing buckwheat, and he let me bring my bees to his field. Very nice guy, he expects to get some honey from me. Never done that before. What would be the fair share of the honey in this situation. It is about four acres of buckwheat, and I am planning to bring six hives.

iddee · June 02, 2011, 12:02:07 PM

Is he going to give you a fair share of the buckwheat seed?

I would never give him honey as payment for pollinating his crops.

I might give him a quart of honey as a friendly gesture, but NOT as payment.

mushmushi · June 02, 2011, 12:40:03 PM

I had 3 hives in a vineyard last year. I gave the owner 3 jars of honey so 1 per hive ;)

He sometimes gives me rides from the parking to the hive in his yard vehicle to help me carry the supers / supplies.

Super cool guy.

VolunteerK9 · June 02, 2011, 02:20:54 PM

I might give him a quart or two but that would be about it. We are only talking about 4 acres of buckwheat in a 2 mile radius of the hives, so I wouldnt expect a bumper crop just from the buckwheat. Ive planted the stuff 5 different times now and have checked it at different times of the day, but my bees just seem to flat out ignore it. Hopefully, your guy has a different variety. He would be benefiting more from your bees than you would be from the 4 acres.

MarkF · June 02, 2011, 02:27:36 PM

I had the same luck with buckwheat last summer my Bees just plain ignored it completely.

schawee · June 02, 2011, 06:27:20 PM

a quart of honey would be fine. remember that you and your bees will be doing all the work. schawee

AllenF · June 02, 2011, 11:22:58 PM

2 pints might go farther. :-D

vmmartin · June 03, 2011, 09:33:33 AM

I am with Allen. Nothing wrong with a friendly gesture, but he is definitely getting the better deal. 4 acres is the proverbial drop in the bucket and you have all the work of tending the bees, moving hives etc. I would really try not to come across as stingy but would educate him about how much the bees do for those two pints of honey.

Jim134 · June 03, 2011, 09:52:41 AM

Quote from: mat on June 02, 2011, 11:31:31 AM
I finely found a farmer growing buckwheat, and he let me bring my bees to his field. Very nice guy, he expects to get some honey from me. Never done that before. What would be the fair share of the honey in this situation. It is about four acres of buckwheat, and I am planning to bring six hives.

I might give him a quart of honey. Bees covers 8,000 acres 4 acres is a drop in the bucket just my $0.02

Hope you can come to this.
Massachusetts Beekeeper's Association Annual Field Day June 25th,2011

http://massbee.org/meetings/15-2011-field-day

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,23082.0.html

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

mat · June 03, 2011, 11:32:10 AM

Thank you everybody. Now I have an idea. Of course I don't want to give too much, but also I don't want to discourage the guy, thinking about next year. Jim thank you for the info. I'd love to come but,my usual luck, I work 24 on that day. I am sure you'll have great time.