My name is Chris, I'm from New Jersey (South Jersey). I've always been interested in social insects, mostly ants. I'm currently 22 years old and going to school for graphic design. When I was young my dad was involved with Animal Control and would occasionally get a swarm of hornets or bees to take care of (kill). Later on the media fed the whole "killer bee" scare, and in spite of their distribution coming almost to a complete stop in 1998, the state paid my dad and me to take the BeeGinners course. Your tax dollars at work. We never did much with it but would occasionally get honey from the hives. Our friends and neighbors got into it and allowed us to put hives on their property. My dad no longer does Animal Control and our hives shortly died out.
With only one hive left I decided to take up a more active roll in beekeeping. Which is why I've decided to join this thread. :-P