Hello from Oregon

[gusterbunny]

Hello, I'm a new bee from the foothills of the Cascade mountains.  This is my first spring as a beekeeper.  I hived my bees on April 11th and all is well......I guess I added my second deep this weekend.  It was nervewracking deciding whether or not to do it.  Was I jumping the gun, are there enough frames drawn, is the weather right?  But, I did it anyway.  I love my bees and watching the darling little girls with their pantaloons packed with pollen.  I never realized how many different colors of pollen there are!  Crazy.  Later~ Guster

[kathyp]

welcome.  where in Oregon do you live?  you can change your location in  your profile.  since the weather is so different in different parts of Oregon, it helps to know your area when you ask or answer questions.

[Sean Kelly]

Hello from Oregon!  Where at in the cascades are you?  My wife and I lived out in Beaverton/Aloha for 6 years and just moved up to Washington 2 years ago.  Welcome to the forum and ask lots of questions, the people here are awesome and a real huge help!

Sean Kelly

[gusterbunny]

Thanks for the warm welcome!  I live about 50 miles west of Eugene in Blue River.  We are about 1100 ft elevation.  My bees seem happy and busy, just aren't interested in the sugar syrup since I put my second deep on.  Lots and lots of pollen coming in......I've heard thats a good sign.  Thanks~ Guster

[Cindi]

Guster, welcome to our forum.  This is the place that you will love to spend time, as the new beekeeper you will have lots of questions, here you will get your answers.  Ask all the questions that you want, you will get answers, you will get all the assistance that you want.  Keep telling us your experiences, we love to hear stories and how things are going.  Enjoy your bees, you ain't seen nuthin' yet, you will be held captive watching them, they are the coolest, welcome and have that most beautiful and wonderful day, Cindi

[indypartridge]

Hello and Welcome!

I believe you'll find this forum to be a friendly place to learn about beekeeping. The 'search' function is one of my favorite features, because many times I find that my question has already been discussed and I don't have to wait for an answer.

Are you involved with a local beekeeping club? I always recommend that new beekeepers get connected with other beeks in their area. Clubs are good places to find mentors, and tap into the "local knowledge" of beekeeping practices in your area. Looks like there's a club not far from you:
http://www.orsba.org/htdocs/regionalbranch.htm

[gusterbunny]

Yes I do belong to a local beekeeping club and I attended bee school in February.  The problem I have encountered is a kind of negative response to my questions about top bar beekeeping with the local beekeepers.  This is something I really would like to learn more about so here I am, to listen and ask questions.  This forum seems very diverse and open minded!  Thanks~ Guster

[Barbara]

I had the same problem when I mentioned going foundationless.  The beek I got my nucs from just sort of looked at me like I was crazy.  And he's on the board of Maryland State Beekeepers Association.  His comment was "Where did you hear about that, on the internet?"   We were assigned a mentor at our last bee class, and our information was given to him, but we've had our bees almost a month now and haven't heard from him. 

But on a happy note, our hives are doing well, building straight comb on foundationless frames, and we've had to add another box on top of one, even though the season has been a bit slow because of the weather.