# Semantics: Hive vs colony



## StockDogLovr (Apr 13, 2009)

I am not a beekeeper. In another thread I asked questions about commercial beekeepers paying to bring hives to our land for the citrus bloom. I am trying to learn and am confused. I asked one keeper how many hives he would bring and he said his truck carries 138 hives. Another keeper said he usually brings 200-300 colonies. What I see are wooden towers of what looks like drawers. I have also seen those drawers individually. Is each drawer a colony within the entire tower which is a "hive?" Or is a hive the same thing as a colony? If the tower of drawers is full of multiple colonies, again, is each drawer a colony? I'm so confused and don't want to sound stupid when dealing with these folks. The one with 200-300 colonies rented our land last year and paid us $200 for about six weeks. The other guy will pay $5/hive. Are we being taken advantage of by the first guy? 

This is in the Central Valley of California where the citrus trees are about to go into bloom, and apparently the oranges are self pollinating so the keepers pay to have access.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Each stack of hive bodies is a colony of honey bees. Some times the name colony gets subututied for hive of bees.
This is 3 colony or hives of bees.




The hive bodies are wooden boxes usually but some people buy the plastic ones.




Each one of those hive bodies have frames in them different bee keepers us a number they like. Mine all hold ten for the brood chamber and I like 8 for the honey supers.
Using 8 makes cutting the wax caps off at extraction time easier.






I have no idea if the prices they offer are fair or not. We pay in honey here.

 Al


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## WildPrGardens (Mar 8, 2014)

I don't know how many trees you have or how much other forage is available but it is possible the guy this year will end up with more surplus honey than the guy last year. 
More bees eat more nectar just to survive. 
Maybe last year was a bad year and the guy knew it likely would be.
Or maybe this year is really bad and the guy is desperate just to find a place to keep his bees alive without having to feed them himself.
Hive and colony mean pretty much the same thing.
Kinda like house and home.

I don't pay cash for locations either, just some honey.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Usually when you have a crop you want pollinated you pay the beekeeper rather than the other way around.


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## StockDogLovr (Apr 13, 2009)

Al, thank you for the education - I really appreciate it! 

We live in Orange Cove, so as the name suggests our area is full of citrus groves. We also live on "The Blossom Trail," and at this time of year all the pit fruit orchards are in full bloom, and there are miles and miles of them in all directions. I'm sure the CA Central Valley supplies a major portion fruit market in the US. Nuts are also huge here, so yes, those growers pay beekeepers for pollination service. However, as I said, citrus doesn't require insect pollination, so they don't hire bees. Because citrus blooms seem to be desirable, beekeepers are willing to pay for access in cash or honey. I know the guy last year was collecting honey once a week at least.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Citrus honey is one of the desirable honeys people pay more for than the so called labeled clover honey. I can under stand a bee keeper wanting to have the hives near so the bees collect the nectar from them. 
I have a friend who gets paid in Florida to keep his bees in the oranges when they are in bloom. I'm sure that they are different oranges than what is in Cal.

 Al


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