We began learning about and working with bees in 1992 as commercial beekeepers. Our years in commercial beekeeping were from 1992 to 2000. During this time, we managed about 750 bee colonies. We provided these colonies to farmers in Arizona and California for crop pollination services. We pollinated watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews, and seeded alfalfa in Arizona. Each February, our bees provided almond pollination services to farmers in California’s Central Valley, from Fresno to Merced.

As a vital part of the successful farming operation, we provided farmers with honey bee colonies. Without bees, flowering plants and trees do not get enough insect visits to the flowers to transfer pollen and cause fertilization. For farming to be economically viable, large quantities of fruit or nuts must be produced per acre. This only occurs when large numbers of bees are present to transfer pollen between flowers. Therefore, the need for adequate pollination required that we deliver bee colonies with very large populations of bees to the farmer. Keeping the bee boxes full of bees is a very difficult task, especially in early Spring. Our expertise in bee biology and colony care allowed us to maintain and deliver bee colonies with large bee populations to our farmers.

A smaller part of our beekeeping operation was honey and pollen production. We produced honey in the Arizona desert, Flagstaff, and even in North Dakota. In 2000, we decided to sell our commercial beekeeping operation so we could focus our energies on providing bee removal services. We continue to manage a small number of our own honey bee colonies to produce the highest-quality honey and pollen.