Managing Pollination Service Contracts and Hive Placement Records
Pollination services represent a significant revenue stream for many commercial beekeepers. They also represent a significant management challenge. Moving hives to meet contract requirements, verifying colony strength, documenting placement, and managing varroa during the contract period all require systematic record-keeping. Without it, disputes over compliance and hive condition are hard to resolve and contracts are hard to renew.
Understanding What Pollination Contracts Require
Most pollination contracts specify minimum colony strength requirements, delivery dates, pickup dates, and placement locations within the crop. Almond contracts in California, for example, typically require 6 or more frames of bees and 4 or more frames of brood per colony. Blueberry and cherry contracts vary by grower but often have similar strength minimums.
Beekeepers who deliver weak colonies or colonies below the contracted strength risk contract disputes, payment deductions, or loss of future contracts. The grower's crop depends on the bees actually pollinating, and weak colonies with small forager populations do not provide adequate pollination. Strength verification before delivery, documented in your records, protects you and demonstrates professionalism.
Pre-Placement Colony Assessment
Before any contract delivery, assess every hive going on the truck. Record population (frames of bees), brood frames, honey stores, and queen status. Some beekeepers hire an independent inspector to verify strength before delivery for large or high-value contracts.
The assessment data does three things:
- Ensures you only deliver colonies that meet the contracted strength
- Gives you a baseline for comparing colony condition at pickup
- Provides documentation if there is a later dispute about colony condition at delivery
Photograph frames if you want visual documentation. A timestamp-stamped photo of a full frame of bees, taken beside the hive number placard at time of delivery, is strong evidence in any contract dispute.
Placement Records and GPS Documentation
Most contracts require hive placement in specific areas of the crop, at specified densities. A blueberry grower may want four colonies per acre in a uniform distribution. An almond grower may want hives at the ends of orchard rows. Document where you put each hive or hive group.
GPS coordinates for each hive placement location are the most defensible form of placement documentation. Take a coordinate reading at each drop site at the time of placement. Log the number of hives at each location, the contract they are placed under, and the delivery date. At pickup, record the condition of each colony against the pre-placement baseline.
See the GPS hive mapping guide for practical tips on capturing and organizing coordinates in the field.
Varroa Management During Pollination Contracts
Managing varroa during a pollination contract is complicated by the honey super restriction on most treatments. Apivar strips cannot be used with honey supers on, and during an active bloom, supers are often in place or the bees are in a food-gathering mode that makes disruption undesirable.
Options for varroa management during pollination contracts:
MAQS (formic acid) is registered for use with honey supers on and can be applied during the contract period if temperature conditions are within range (50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit). This makes it the most practical option for mid-contract treatment when mite counts rise unexpectedly.
Pre-placement treatment. The best approach is getting mite counts low before the contract period begins. Treat in fall and spring, verify efficacy, and deliver colonies with low mite loads. A colony with a 0.5% mite count at placement can usually go several weeks into a contract before requiring retreatment.
Post-pickup treatment. When hives return from a pollination placement, mite counts are often elevated due to the stress of movement, exposure to other bees, and the density of colonies at the site. Count mites within a week of return and treat if above threshold.
Tracking Pollination Revenue and Costs
Pollination service management is also a financial record-keeping task. Each contract represents revenue. Associated costs include fuel, labor for loading and unloading, treatment costs for pre-placement and post-return treatment, and equipment wear. Knowing the actual profitability of each contract requires capturing both sides.
VarroaVault's contract tracking lets you attach hive groups to specific pollination placements, log delivery and pickup dates, record pre- and post-placement colony strength assessments, and track varroa treatment costs associated with each contract period. This data supports invoice preparation and gives you the historical record to price future contracts accurately.
Building Long-Term Grower Relationships
Beekeepers who deliver strong colonies on time, communicate proactively about any issues, and can produce documentation of colony condition at delivery are the ones who get called first for premium contracts. A professional record-keeping system is part of what makes a professional pollination operation.
Growers who have had bad experiences with beekeepers delivering substandard colonies or disappearing at pickup time are particularly attentive to documentation and communication. Being the beekeeper who shows up with a hive assessment on a tablet, places colonies at GPS-logged locations, and sends a post-placement report builds exactly the kind of trust that generates repeat business and referrals.