The Camrose area has several large commercial beekeepers at present, so I'm not sure how much room there is around there.  Nonetheless, moist of Alberta is very much understocked with bees, so I imagine there must be some room.  In my opinion, Alberta could carry twice as many hives and still not be crowded.  In the seventies, the industry was expanding at a good rate, but border closure put and end to that.  Recently, pollination has financed expansion again, but not for honey production.

> I have one question for you that may
> or may not determine on how far I go but it would help. You mentioned
> that the future of honey seems to show that the price will drop.
> Do you think it will go below the $1.00 lbs and if so is it still
> viable in the commercial end of it?

Word is that Billy Bee has been offering 95c in the past week.  In the past, though, BB has always been known for low ball.  They phone around to see who is in need of cash and try to pick up bargains.  I really do not know what the price is or where it will all end up.  It seems that the South Americans are anxious to unload their honey, so I guess we'll know more in January.  Many beekeepers traditionally start selling. then, for tax reasons.

As for viability of honey production at prices under a dollar, that all depends on management.  The cost of the capital items, plus the cost of labour and other expenses, weighed against the amount produced per hive and the price determines whether there will be profit.  I know some beekeepers who can make money at 65c, but they won't make money every year at that price.

> I have just thought of some other questions. Roughly how many hives
> would you need to make it a viable commercial operation and at what
> cost would that take.

That is a very difficult question to answer, since that comes down to the area and the crops, the operating style and the ingenuity and capabilities of the operator.  Those who have maintenance skills and who are able to improvise typically do well in times when prices are down.

Buying in at current equipment prices, with low returns on the horizon could be a bad decision.  For those buying in, the cost of beehives and bees will likely go down as some give up, but that decline in price typically takes a few years.

> If you have any hives left I would be interested in purchasing some.
> You mentioned brood and that is fine as I would need the starter
> chambers anyhow. Also is there another alternative to getting
> package bees. Other than from Bee maid in Spruce Grove.

That is probably the best supplier, but F.W. Jones, Norm Bartel and others handle New Zealand packages.

> Will we be able to purchase any packages from the U.S. now that that
> border has opened to bees?

Not at present.  Beekeepers in several other provinces continue to lobby to maintain the border closure to package bees from the USA, even though it has nothing whatsoever to do with them, and even though their bee industries are small and not particularly significant to Canadian production, and although they are free to keep their own provincial borders closed to whatever they care to.

> I know some of the problems that you have mentioned and would be
> concerned about having more problems here in Canada.

Our biggest problem is that our regulators seem to be more concerned about minor diseases and hypothetical pests than they are about the health of our industry.