Bees just love swarming

[Sean Kelly]

Clegs:
You're required to register any number of hives with the Washington State Department of Agriculture.  It's the law.  $5 will cover you for 1 year and up to 5 hives.
This is from the WSDA:
Each person owning one or more hives with bees, brokers renting hives, and apiarists resident in other states who operate hives in Washington
shall register with the Department of Agriculture on or before April 1st of each year. The registration form is to include the person's name, address, and
phone number, the number of colonies of bees owned, brokered, or operated in Washington, and the appropriate registration fee. (RCW 15.60.021)

The registration form is located here: http://agr.wa.gov/PlantsInsects/docs/ApiaryRegistrationForm.pdf

You can contact our state inspector Christina Rappin at crappin@agr.wa.gov or (360) 902-2070.

It's pretty painless.  I registered mine after April 1st since I didnt establish my first hive until the 16th and didnt have to pay the extra fees.  They're pretty easy to work with.  Just send a check with the registration form and you'll get a confirmation in the mail with your registration number on it.

Yeah the folks at Trees N' Bees are really nice and have a cool set up for Christmas.  I found out about them when we bought our Christmas tree last year.  They're a little steep in price but it's really convinent having them so close when you're in a bind.  I bought my 3# package from them this year and was very happy.  They also hold beekeeping classes a few times a year which I hear is pretty cool.  I keep missing them cause of my work schedule.

Cindi:
You like that sign?!?!  Get's the point across.  lol  I actually bought it from Brushy Mountain for like $10.  Most signs I've seen were pretty lame like "Busy bees at work... beee careful!" with a pic of some dumb looking cartoon bee on it.  This one really caught my eye.  Puts the fear of God in ya.  lol
I'm not required to post signs here either, but I wanted one just in case some drunken hillbilly comes out of the woods and thinks it would be cool to knock over my hive.  Here in Washington if someone tresspasses and gets hurt because of something dangerous on your yard, they could sue you.  I've heard stories of people getting sued cause a burgler broke into their house and broke a bone after tripping on a piece of cardboard.  But if they posted a sign sayin, "Danger, cardboard" then the suit would have failed.  Instead they had to pay for the burgler's medical bill.  The last thing I need is some kid getting stung and his folks trying to sue me saying "we didn't know it was there".   :evil:

Sean Kelly

[Cindi]

Sean, I really do like the sign.  I am going to look into something like that for my property, one never knows (and it might be some advertising for some honey sales, one fine day).  I will know by the middle of August if I will get any surplus honey this year.  I plan on having all honey off the colonies that I will take for human consumption by the 1 of September.  In that way I can apply the formic acid treatment in time to have the first mite control underway in time before it is too late to do formic acid.  This is the time frame that should be adhered to strictly in our Lower Mainland area and it has been my mission this year to go into next year with great bees with strong buildup.  Cause next year, watch out, we're a'gonna have the honey crop of the century (loll).  Dreams, yes, we must all have these beautiful dreams that keep us keepin' on.  Have a beautiful day, wonderful life, love this life we're all livin'.  Cindi, in Toronto (well, for another 2 hours).

[Clegs]

My bees have been behaving themselves, no sign of them wanting to swarm (for a little while at least...)

I like that sign, but we have much more dangerous stuff in our yard then bees (like a dog!).
Hopefully I won't have to report another swarm, they're buzzing away making a TON of honey.  I guess I live in a pretty good area because they are filling up the honey supers even though this is their first year and they have been swarming!

[Clegs]

Ok, I think I found the problem, when I opened my hive yesterday I found two queens!  I'm not sure what to do, because there may be more then two!

[Kathyp]

two queens is not necessarily a problem.  you can split the hive and use one of the queens in there, or if they are ok together, leave them.  just give them plenty of room.  you were going to split anyway.  you just saved the cost of a queen or the wait for a new one.