David vs. Goliath

Some days you wonder if there is any justice in the world any more at all. About a month ago a commercial beekeeper placed 30 hives, five pallets of six hives each on the piece of property just adjacent to my personal hives. This is only around a quarter mile from the experimental hives and right across the street from where the hives used to be located in the gravel pit. I called the land owner first. He said to call the beekeeper, he didn't know anything about it. So, I called the beekeeper. He said that he needs places to put his hives and that is a good location and they will stay there until October when he moves them to Florida. I expressed my concern that I would not get a honey crop because his 30 hives would take all the available forage. He said that if I didn't get any honey he might consider moving them to a different location next year. I just let it go. Today I checked all of my hives and peeked in the experimental hives. The only hives that have any surplus honey at all are the huge one of mine which has one deep and five mediums on it, and the two horizontal hives. That is interesting to me. But the big hive only has a partial super and it is not yet full. Normally this is when I do first honey collection. Even in the drought year of 2012 I got honey off my hives. So, I called the commercial beekeeper again and pled my case. I pointed out to him that his hives represent 1% of his operation and mine are my entire honey crop. He was unmoved. He argued that he makes his whole income from beekeeping and I only have a few hives, therefore his cause is more important. I pointed out that I do make some income from honey as well as feeding my family. I also pointed out that I have a diversified operation, and also that he makes income from pollination as well. That is when he said he was a busy man and had to go, good-bye.

So what to do? I don't know. I have contacted the MBA, but I don't have a big hope there, they are mostly commercial beekeepers themselves. Maybe you all could think of something...