A strong colony will forage in stronger winds than a weak one. Strong colonies need proportionally fewer bees to perform hive duties and thus they are able to have more field bees. Bee colony strength can be determined by the amount of brood in the col on . Colonies should have at least 1200 square inches of brood to be considered adequate. Rental fees are standardized on a colony basis but since some colonies are 2 or 3 times as strong, it may eventually be necessary for a beekeeper to grade colonies before delivery and vary the rental fee accordingly.
Honey bees obtain greater rewards of nectar or pollen from some plants than others.
Crops to be pollinated may be less attractive than other plants. It is therefore wise to move colonies of bees to crops during or just before their main flowering time. This will usually insure that a good pollination job is done before the bees discover competing flowers. Since individual bees will forage close to the colony location before moving greater distances, bee colonies used for pollination are usually placed in or just adjacent to the crop requiring pollination. When renting colonies for pollination it is desirable to have a written agreement between the beekeeper and grower.