Potential new apiary

[omnimirage]

I met a lady at a market recently who told me of someone who wanted bees at their property. The information I got was:

1) there's 60 acres of mallee scrub (a form of eucalyptus)

2) there's numerous water sources available

3) it's heritage listed, isolated land

3) it's a 30 minute drive from me

4) the owner was very friendly, likes bees and wants some honey in exchange

To me, the site sounded incredible. I looked up the address on google earth, and was very disappointed and frankly confused with what I saw. The majority of the area was pastureland. There may have been some flowers on shrubs closer to the ground, but there was hardly any lucrative eucalyptus trees. There was two batches of trees in the general area, hardly looked like 60 acres worth, less than a thousand trees. I'm under the impression that 60 acres is a large amount of land, I'm not sure if those two patches of trees was the 60 acres of mallee, maybe when she said "scrub" that included "barren spaces where no trees are growing".

It sounded so promising on the phone, but Google Earth has the site looking so crap, I seriously wonder if it's even worth some petrol and 100 minutes of my time. It looks so bad that, I wonder why the person would even suggest it, maybe she thought those two patches was enough. It's so bad that I'm confused, wondering maybe I've gotten something wrong, maybe I should just check it out because 60 acres sounds like a lot of trees...

[BeeMaster2]

Omni,
Why are you worried about her land and what is on it? Bees do not obey land rights.
Draw a 3 mile ring around where you would place your hives and see what is available.
Jim

[eltalia]

@omnimirage
In all the hype around the "Beez are  Dying" message a lot of the practicality of
colony management is well simplified to the point of sheer nonsense... yet many
 believe, and wring their hands in angst
The lady most likely means well, as do a few others -  in a forum I only read -
where the cuddly-fuddly brigade think it will work out fine after they plant some
rose bushes to feed their $1200AUD investment in Saving the Bees. One guy has
his box (s) on the roof of his Unit block thinking the streetscape will feed his bees.
Likely will...from the dregs of Latte cups discarded at the bustops...heh
Seriously.
Maybe the address is wrong, or GE has it misplaced..?... it happens.

Bill

Bill

[omnimirage]

Yeah that's what I meant, I wasn't exactly sure what part was her land I looked around in the area and all I saw was those two patches of trees.

Seems to be a trend nowadays eltalia. I had someone say they wanted bees, they had a hobby farm and figured since they had a wild bee swarm come to their tree, that their property was good for bees. I had a look on google maps of their area, and there was almost no trees whatsoever in the area. Just barren pastureland nothing at all.

[eltalia]

Yeah that's what I meant......

What Jim said holds true, tho' for summer conditions here I would cut it back to 2 to 3km (~1.5mile) for optimum
production. Better to shift bees rather then have them fly it. And of course any site like you describe is only
migratory, to be treated as one would a monoculture. Many of our "scrub" trees flower years apart.
Like...
I cleaned up (housekeeping) before our Xmas jaunt around the continent to find on return maybe 5 trees close
by in full flower I had never seen before - in three years, they look like a cedar of sorts - and my lttle show
busting at the seams. Did I say I loathe working honey anytime, moreso on 40+C days..?.. I took the knife to
much of it as I couldn't be bothered with extraction. It gave the lil' buggers something to do over thinking about
heading for the hills...heh ;-))

Bill

[omnimirage]

That's what I've been doing, I look at what they can find within 3 kilometers, and then assess if they were to go a little further out than optimum at 5 kilometers.

Currently I'm not doing migratory beekeeping. With not knowing how to drive a trailer, and having just a station wagon, and also not having enough knowledge to know where to move and set up bees, I'm just seeking to find a good site for bees and then leave them there set up. So if a site isn't good for much of the year, it's not worth me setting up there. My best, main site is more or less directly across from a forest, it's pretty lucrative.

[rawfind]

I met a lady at a market recently who told me of someone who wanted bees at their property. The information I got was:

1) there's 60 acres of mallee scrub (a form of eucalyptus)

2) there's numerous water sources available

3) it's heritage listed, isolated land

3) it's a 30 minute drive from me


Why are you stressing? Just put one hive there and see how it goes, i have placed hives in areas i thought were not going to be anygood  and they turned out to be my best sites, the bees will find the nectar if its there
4) the owner was very friendly, likes bees and wants some honey in exchange

To me, the site sounded incredible. I looked up the address on google earth, and was very disappointed and frankly confused with what I saw. The majority of the area was pastureland. There may have been some flowers on shrubs closer to the ground, but there was hardly any lucrative eucalyptus trees. There was two batches of trees in the general area, hardly looked like 60 acres worth, less than a thousand trees. I'm under the impression that 60 acres is a large amount of land, I'm not sure if those two patches of trees was the 60 acres of mallee, maybe when she said "scrub" that included "barren spaces where no trees are growing".

It sounded so promising on the phone, but Google Earth has the site looking so crap, I seriously wonder if it's even worth some petrol and 100 minutes of my time. It looks so bad that, I wonder why the person would even suggest it, maybe she thought those two patches was enough. It's so bad that I'm confused, wondering maybe I've gotten something wrong, maybe I should just check it out because 60 acres sounds like a lot of trees...

[omnimirage]

Spending the time and petrol for one hive as an experiment is not worthwhile, especially considering I'd have to test it over quite a long period. I'd rather make an assessment of whether it's worth setting up at all, and my current assessment is that it's not worthwhile.

[Hops Brewster]

To me, the site sounded incredible. I looked up the address on google earth, and was very disappointed and frankly confused with what I saw. The majority of the area was pastureland. There may have been some flowers on shrubs closer to the ground, but there was hardly any lucrative eucalyptus trees. There was two batches of trees in the general area, hardly looked like 60 acres worth, less than a thousand trees. I'm under the impression that 60 acres is a large amount of land, I'm not sure if those two patches of trees was the 60 acres of mallee, maybe when she said "scrub" that included "barren spaces where no trees are growing".

It sounded so promising on the phone, but Google Earth has the site looking so crap, I seriously wonder if it's even worth some petrol and 100 minutes of my time. It looks so bad that, I wonder why the person would even suggest it, maybe she thought those two patches was enough. It's so bad that I'm confused, wondering maybe I've gotten something wrong, maybe I should just check it out because 60 acres sounds like a lot of trees...

Of course Google Earth can't reveal the floral details of a site!  Your current assessment is based on a satellite picture that may or may not be current.

Therefore, your options are to take an hour or 2 for a pleasant drive out to the country, meet the landowner (perhaps making a new friend that can help you network for other locations), and survey that land and what surrounds it.  The owner may be able to give you more details of what/when things bloom in the area.  You may find some valuable flora in the 18,000 acres that HBs forage.  Or you may find a dismal desert, and made a new friend.

Or, you can forget the notion.  After all, you have probably spent as much time here on the forum discussing this place with people that can only offer opinions as it would have taken to go find out first hand.  Without the benefit of a pleasant Sunday drive.

Where I live, a 30 minute drive to work is nothing to complain about.

[omnimirage]

I had another look and there might be farm crops in the local area. I'm just poor and petrol is bloody expensive so am aversive to going for drives, and am inexperienced and value feedback from people more knowledgeable than I hence the forum.

[rawfind]

Spending the time and petrol for one hive as an experiment is not worthwhile, especially considering I'd have to test it over quite a long period. I'd rather make an assessment of whether it's worth setting up at all, and my current assessment is that it's not worthwhile.

Ok , this is what i do, i am not prepared to have my hives anymore than an hour from where i live,  i setup permanent sites and i avoid moving them around unless absolutely necessary , (bio security) even with this way of doing things it can take quite a bit of time to check them but im not spending heaps on fuel or travel time, you need to find what works for you, we all do it differently

[Hops Brewster]

By my way of thinking, driving out to look things over is step one of establishing an outyard, and it is just one of many drives out there that would be necessary.  if you can't afford the drive out to properly assess the site, you won't be able to afford the drive out to properly care for the bees. 
so if a couple gallons of fuel is what's stopping you now, your answer is obvious.

[eltalia]

@Hops Brewster

Aussie backyard 'keeps are notoriously tight-fisted, mate... to the point
where practicality (good sense) is dismissed as "too hard".

What I struggle with in this whole report is how $12 a jar does not make
a 20minute drive worthwhile, not once.
Just does not compute... for me.
Crikey..!... back in the day the old dodgers would be on their pushbike
- supers loaded over the handlebars, smoker hanging offn the seat - if
only to sit down to hot scones and fresh tea with the lady.

Bill