CATCH THE BUZZ – Moving Bees To California? Read This from California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Sent out by California State Beekeepers.

Below is a statement from Roger Cline with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

During the January 19, 2017 Honey Bee Shipment meeting, a request was made concerning the best times that could possibly assist the more effective movement of apiary shipments. A review of the data shows that February (and most months) the general traffic pattern by day of week below. 

Please note the following:

• Only the major stations seeing the most apiary shipments are listed
• All station general patterns
  • Graveyard shifts are usually staffed with fewest personnel and was not charted
  • Sunday and Monday are the heaviest traffic days
  • Day shift lowest volume of traffic is on Wednesday
  • Swing shift lowest volume of traffic on Tuesday and Wednesday
  • Fluctuation of traffic would define best hours as
    • Day being 7 am through noon
    • Swing being 6 pm through Midnight
    • Hours between noon and 6 pm are usually the busiest of all times
  • Specific stations times are as listed in the chart below (L being usually the lowest traffic times but staffing levels could affect workload)
  • Pest digital identification submission to the entomologists end at 9pm and start up at 7am