Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: BEH on February 18, 2008, 04:25:18 pm
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:? Hi, I'm a beginner just starting out in Norfolk Virginia. I need to order some packaged bees. I understand that if I want any this year I need to order them ASAP (or rather that I should have ordered them already) Do I need to find a supplier near by so that the bees are more adjusted to the climate here? If I order from someone in CA. or up north will I have problems with the bees tolerating our high humidity ? will they be more susceptible to disease? Or if I order from farther south such as GA TX or FL will I face a problem wintering them over? Our climate here is Hot and very humid summers with sporadic very cold spells (for the south any way) in winter. Our weather really fluctuates, the only thing constant is the humidity.
So any suggestions? I can't seem to locate anyone here in Virginia.
Any recommendations or advice will be greatly appreciated!
Thank You, Barbra
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Contact your state association. I'm sure someone sells nucs, packages, or full hives in Virginia
http://www.virginiabeekeepers.org/
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Thanks for the web site. I have already been there and asked the same question. "Where can I buy bees in Virginia and what type would be best for our high humidity climate?" Searching the net, I have turned up a few locals who sell honey, but no one who advertises live bees. Guess I'll try calling a few of the locals, see what advice they have for me. I had been hoping to take a local beekeeping class but the last one was March of 2007 and the website says the next wont be until 2009. Looks like they are just skipping this year. Aint that just the darndest luck? :-\
Thanks for the quick reply :-D, Barbra
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I live in PA and have package bees from the South in my hive. You can check here for packages:
http://www.gabees.com/pkg_bees.htm
There are some others ,but this was fast and easy to find!
You may want to check pout this group!
http://www.nrvba.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=37
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I know a beekeeper in Smithfield who probably has a nuc or two to get rid of. I overwinterd in Carrollton on the James River last year. I really like it there but I really missed these mountains that are all around me now. Send me a pm if you would like his contact info.
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Thank You for all the information everybody! Keep it coming :)
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You can post on the want to buy forum on beesource
www.beesource.com/forums
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Don't worry too much about where they come from south/north etc. That being said, buying within your region is better because of shipping costs, delivery mishaps, stress on bees... If you can, buy from close enough to pick them up. You may even get some words of advice from your seller.
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Just talked to a local beek, lives about 5 miles from me. The local association will meet again in about 3 weeks, he said it has a pretty good sized membership and was sure someone there would have a nuc or 2 for sale.
He gave me some other upseting news though also. :( Seems that I live in the only city in this area that is anti-bee. Oh they havn't outlawed bees altogether but they might as well have. City ordenance says you must own a minimum of 5 continuous acres of land in order to have a bee hive. I dont know of a single privately owned parcel of land of that size in the entire city. Its rediculous!!!! :-x What, they think the bees are going to stay on their own little 5 acres. NOT!!!
The nice beek I spoke to says he had 27 hives on his property here for years and years with no problems. The city was investigating his neighbor and happened to see his hives. Next thing he knew they had him in court in a 1 1/2 year long battle. He tried to get them to change the laws but nobody wanted to listen.
He had to relocate his hives to about an hours drive away.
:(I am REALLY BUMMED OUT about this! :( Oh I'm not gonna let it stop me, I'll just have to find someplace else to locate the hives. I wont be able to look out my kitchen window and see my hives or walk out my back door to work with them. Guess its a good thing the bumbles will still be around to polinate my garden. :'(
Totally bummed, Barbra
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Barbra. That is really a nasty. I wonder why this has ever occurred, this stupid bylaw, or whatever it is. Something needs to be done to change that, and I surely wonder what. Someone has some really messed up ideas there for sure. I sincerely do wish you well. Can you move and relocate, sorry, I just had to say that. I don't think I could live in a place that had such a narrow minded mind set. Have a wonderful, great day, even though. Cindi
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Cindi, messed up is definitely the word! I have lived in this general area all my life. Been in this house, in this city for 14 years now. And Yes! they are definitely small minded. You wouldnt believe the stories I could tell about their pettiness.
For instance, once our roof was damaged by a hurricane, my husband got shingles and repaired it. The city fined us because the color of the shingles didnt match :-x WHATEVER! :(
My mother used to protest and petition city hall all the time, with mixed results. The beek I spoke to said they have tried to get this particular law changed without success.
If I have my way we wont be here much longer anyway. With my interests, I should have been born a farmers daughter not a city girl. :) I have been trying to convince my husband we need a place in the country for years. He finally agreed, now its just a matter of finding a place we like and can afford. Land prices here have skyrocketed.
Sorry this thread has gotten waaay off target. I just had to vent a little. Thanks for listening. I feel better now. :-* Barbra
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Best solution ......... MOVE.
Let nothing stand in your way. Take a financial hit on your house sale. Take a lower paying job somewhere else. Leave you friends and family behind. Be ruthless! Solve the problem once and for all. Life's too short for that bull feces.
2nd best solution ......... stealth.
Unless you live in the most extreme circumstance, 1 beehive is easily hidden from nosey neighbors and communist City officials. Get a hive, keep it hidden, and tell NO ONE! They'll never know it's there.
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Get a hive, keep it hidden, and tell NO ONE! They'll never know it's there.
Well now, thats kinda, sorta, what I was planing on doing! ;) But if I tell you guys that then I have TOLD SOME ONE now havent I?
Who knoooows what :evil: eeeevilll lurks in the shadows watching us?
You seeeee nothing. You heeeear nothing. What bee hive? I dont know what you are talking about! ;)
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:) And , OFCOURSE I'm not planning to move because of the bees. :lol:
We have been looking for a place to plant a truffle orchard. Bees and truffles will work nicely together I think. Unfortunately, we have an economy budget and million dollar dreams.
Whats the price of a country acre up your way Rabbitdog? :)
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Barbra, oh I wish you well. The instinct of working the land, be it bees, food, flowers, is engrained in the human soul. Our ancestors worked the land, that was life. I have always been a country girl, and thank my lucky stars I am a country girl still. I think by the hard work that I do working our land, it has added eons of years to my life (ooops, did I say that, hee, hee).
If you have this desire of being that country girl, it will be manifest and you will find a way to have it so. I wish you well. It sounds like your community is not the best place for a lot of stuff. Your Mother knew that well, that is why she worked so hard to change things, too bad that things didn't change as much for her as she desired.
Go, girl, go, find that piece of land that will make your heart fulfilled, you deserve that......have a beautiful and wonderful day, love this beautiful life. Cindi
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Whats the price of a country acre up your way Rabbitdog?
Too much! And not the best forage for da Bees either, but it's home and no one tells me what kind of critters I can keep. 8-)
Best wishes!
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Cumberland county:
2000-2002 $500-1000 per acre
2003-2004 $2000-2500 per acre
2007 was $10000 per acre
Seems to be sliding back to reality now, but taxes have doubled...Jeff
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Hello Barbra i live in a small town of Clarksville virgina and we have plenty of homes for sale here some out in the country with plenty of good people that does not mind anyone that has bees i live out in the country part and have plenty of foriging for my girls. And thier is a small house with land for sale in my neighborhood for sale with plenty of trees and a piece of mind i could look into it for you if you ever want to move. As for your problem could'nt you put up a high wooden fence where no one could look in your yard and place your hive there.
Tom
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Thanks Tom, I'm go to have to look up where abouts Clarksville is. I would like to find something with in about an hour and a half drive from where I am now (Norfolk) We are looking for 10 acres. And right now I only have $10,000 to buy it with. :-\ Last year there was a lot of land near the NC line around South Boston for $1000 an acre. Not anymore!! There was a parcel of land I wanted, 21 acres, for sale for $18,000. But we wernt in a position where we could buy it then. They still havn't sold it, but now the seller wants $50,000. I'm talking to someone in Smithfield, trying to work a deal but I'm not holding my breath. Just A day late and a dollar short .
We already have a 6 foot privacy fence, you would think that would be enough wouldnt you. Its not!
The Utilities routinely peek over the fence and the City too. I came home from work last year to find a stranger looking over my 6 ft gate into my side yard. He was with the City, said he was checking for weed and junk violations. Someone down the street hadnt been cutting their grass to his satisfaction so he was checking everybody out. Just plain nosey thats all!
Sigh.......
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Buy right next door to your beekeeper friend.
Un-subdivide the property and make a 5 acre parcel (that would show them).
Or... Buy out your neighbors and knock their houses down!
Better yet, buy the nosey inspectors house (or his grandmothers!) and knock it down!
Level the town!
Free the bees!!!
Or, you could try to be civil and arrange a coup, over throw the city authorities!!
-Jeff
Too bad there isn't a static item in your yard you could claim to be a beehive since before the ordnance was passed. Then you should be grandfathered in. - just a thought.
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Jeff, well said, I'd be with you on that for sure....have a wonderful, great day, love our life we live. Cindi
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Hello BEH Clarksville is about three hours away from Norfolk and i am near the south boston county line. I am getting ready for this year with my bees so far my girls are doing well i lost a few but i am getting more in april from georgia and Ca. if you need help just let me know.
Tom