[steampig]

I may have been dreaming but, I'm sure I've heard of bees to rent.

A friend has a large area of open grassland surrounded by trees and gardens and would like to keep bees, but doesn't want the hassle of looking after them. Is it possible to have a hive on contract, sharing the honey.

Leeds / Bradford area

[WG.]

Is it possible to have a hive on contract, sharing the honey.

Anything is possible I guess - depends on your negotiating skills.

Bees are certainly big business in the USA where they are trucked from State to State to coincide with commercial crops (often fruit) requiring their services.

[Trillium]

That's true, WG, but now people are finding that the poor innocent bees are spreading some plant diseases around with those moves as well as contacting diseases of their own and spreading those as well. I suspect that pretty soon the 'bee rental' business will stop because growers and other apiarists won't want this increasing downside. Unless your bee person is local, you know him/her, and that they don't rent out beyond their own area, it's a gamble.