Hello Frpm SEPA

[Terri Yaki]

Hi folks, future beekeeper here from SEPA. From what I've seen while looking around, this looks like a good place. I'm a retired career truck driver, jack of all trades, master of none. Former democrat, now staunch Trump supporter and prepared to support my positions. I was pro-Trump when pro-Trump wasn't cool. And that's not a truckdriver's story. I worked from the time I could get working papers at 14 until I was able to retire early at 57, eight years ago. Never collected a single unemployment check, worked hard for what I have and don't like others trying to take it from me. I am a gun owning, law abiding citizen and want to keep it that way. I carry everywhere I go and feel naked without it. Accordingly, I should be fairly active in the 2A section. I'm pretty disgusted with the state of the union at the moment and that's just the way it is.

[Kathyp]

Welcome to Beemaster.  As you are learning about beekeeping be sure to use the search for answers to specific questions.  There's a wealth of info gathered over many years.  And of course, feel free to ask any questions you have.  We have others here from PA that can help you with area-specific stuff.

We also look forward to your non-beekeeping posts.  Just be sure to familiarize yourself with the forum rules.  We all get a little hot on some subjects so we have to watch it sometimes!

What is your timeline for getting started with beekeeping?

[The15thMember]

Welcome to Beemaster, Terri Yaki!    Sounds like you will fit right into our community!  As Kathy said, be sure to read the Bylaws at the top of the main page, jump into any topics you'd like, and ask any questions you may have, bee-related or otherwise.  We are happy you are here!   

[Ben Framed]

Terri Yaki; Welcome to Beemaster!!!

[Terri Yaki]

Thanks. OK, read the rules, I think I can comply. My goal is to take a class on beekeeping starting in winter and get a hive or two when the time is right in the spring. I don't know whether to start with one and try to nab a swarm or just start with two. I figure that I'll figure that out when I take the classes. While we are fighting to keep our ground here in PA, we are still pretty free when compared to other states.

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
Welcome to Beemaster.
What part of SE PA are you in.
I grew up In Levittown.
Jim Altmiller

[Terri Yaki]

I live in Douglassville, the suburbs of Pottstown LOL. I had a g/f in Levittown back in the early '80s, she was a good girl. A couple of us were recently talking about that airplane restaurant that used to be up on Route 1 in that vicinity. My early driving jobs were local and I used to get through that area on a regular basis and I had an aunt who lived in Trevose.

[Michael Bush]

I'm glad someone knew what SEPA meant...

[Kathyp]

I'm glad someone knew what SEPA meant...

Lol.  I guessed when his profile said he was from PA.   

[Terri Yaki]

I'm glad someone knew what SEPA meant...

LOL, sorry about that. It's one of those things that's common knowledge around here so we figure that everyone knows it. Anyhow, my neighbor has some apple trees that swarming bees seem to like, as he's caught four or five swarms over there. I think he has two of them alive right now. He's a good guy and really smart but he's not big on getting ahead of the curve with his bees for some reason. I think he had four hives going earlier in the year but he didn't do any pest control so one died and another left town. I've helped and watched a little and decided it looked like a nice, rewarding hobby. I bust on him because he's had these things for about four years but only got some honey twice while the beekeeper down the street seems to have honey for sale about four times a year. He says his bees are slackers. His uncle has tooled with bees for quite a while so we have some help in that department. I am looking forward to getting a hive or two going.

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
I remember that Airplane Restaurant. Never went inside, I think my dad said it was too expensive. I looked for it the last time I went home and it is not there anymore.
Do you remember the song, Pottstown, Summer In the City. We used to say that every time we heard the name Pottstown?
When I saw SEPA, I thought of the train system SEPTA.
Jim Altmiller

[BeeMaster2]

If I were you I would just have bee equipment ready and try to catch a couple of swarms. Better than paying $200 for a Nuc or package.
Jim Altmiller

[Kathyp]

If I were you I would just have bee equipment ready and try to catch a couple of swarms.

if you can get a couple of frames of old wax from your beekeeper friend that would help to draw a swarm to your hive BUT make sure his hives are disease free first!!

Also, if you can hook up with a beekeeper who is not territorial and will take you on a couple of swarm catches, you can learn that too.  Then you can put your name on some swarm removal websites.  I used to get too many calls to keep up with, but now beekeeping has become a thing and there are so many folks around I don't get so many calls.

[Terri Yaki]

Catching my own sounds great to me. It's more of me, myself and I...and some bees. And Matt (my neighbor) has offered up his help. He recommends mixing some comb, some honey and some lemon grass oil and painting it on the hive(s), if that sounds good. I have two sections of scaffolding and could hoist the beckoning homes 5 or 10' into the air, if that sounds like a good plan. What diseases should I beware of? And I am hoping to make friends through the local beekeeper's club who could help me out as well. When I have extra stuff, I tend to give it away and it seems to me that what goes around comes around. I usually get treated well by others.

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
Forget the honey, it will just cause problems. Use some old comb in the hive, I use one old frame that is past its useful life, or the oldest one that you can get. Fill the rest of the frame slots with empty frames that have popsicle sticks glued in the top slot. Melt some beeswax and paint the edges. Use lemon grass oil, saturate a Q-tip with the oil, wipe it around the entrance, then put the Q-tip in a small plastic baggie and seal it up. Place it in the bottom of the hive.
If you put too much LGO in the hive, it is like visiting your aunt May?s house who uses way too much perfume and you can?t wait to get out of there. The baggie will not stop the LGO from seeping out. It will last about a week. Then repeat the same process.
Swarms will move out of a hive if there is too much LGO in it.
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

I agree with the above posters. I will add; If you friend Mat can make some 'slum gum' from old brood comb as Jim described, you can dip your frames into that melted goo and this will up your odds tremendously! Even more so in my experience than using LGO.. In fact, I do not know of a better swarm attractant...

Phillip

[Terri Yaki]

Jim, how did you know i had an Aunt May? She was born around 1889 and fell just short of her 100th birthday. I'm not following the popsicle stick thing. And could I melt down some of Matt's old wax and just paint it on the frames? I don't know if I have all it takes to melt a container big enough to dip a whole frame into. BTW, I do have two hives built and ready to go, they have wax coated plastic foundations.

[Ben Framed]

Slum gum is what is left over when we melt down old brood frames. We melt the frames down, separate the wax, and what is leftover is the old brown gooey broken down cocoons mixed with what little wax is still laced within those cocoons (that we could not easily remove).
You can paint or rub this hot mixture on you frames if you do not have enough to dip. Just try and get as much of the goo wax on the frames as possible. Or you can instead do the same with the inside of your catch box which will be easier. Use the other frames as the others described in the catch box.
I do not know what it is about the slum gum, maybe the bees smell the old brood cocoon in the left over wax mixture, but it seems to drive them crazy for it..

Phillip

[The15thMember]

What diseases should I beware of?

The biggest thing would be a high mite load, which is easy to test for with an alcohol wash or a sugar roll.  I'm presuming Kathy mentioned disease since bees that don't work, as your neighbor has intimated to you, are often sick, since bees love work more than anything.    But it's also possible that with a different management style, or just a little more management, they'd be more productive and there is nothing really wrong with them.  Just in general, healthy adult bees should be fuzzy and active in warm temperatures, larvae should be pearly white and have plenty of food visible around them when they are small, and the queen's laying pattern should be good with hardly a cell missed in the brood nest.   

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
Because I also had an Aunt May. She lived into her late eighties, died of starvation, would not buy food due to inflation. She had dementia and compared the present day prices to the prices when she was a child. She died with half a million dollars in the bank.

The Popsicle sticks are to give the young bees a straight line to follow. Helps prevent cross comb. Don?t fill the hive with foundation. The bees measure the inside of the space to determine if it is large enough and the foundation makes it look small. You can use drawn frames, especially in the spring before the wax moths are developed but you are taking a chance of it getting destroyed. Swarms like hives with drawn comb.
Jim Altmiller