# New Member from Rochester, NY USA



## JohnNY78 (Oct 25, 2013)

Welcome. Yes very resourceful. I live in jersey but my bees are about 70 miles south from you in the town of cohocton. Good luck beekeeping . Also you might want to requeen those packages a month after getting them with a local queen to your area. I went 2 years with packages and both winters they died. very cold up that way. Bees need to be able to withstand the cold and no cleansing flights for long periods.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Welcome to Beesource!



I've been invited to come _visit _up that way by one of your neighbors ...


sqkcrk said:


> You are welcome to come visit as long as you know where home is.


..but looking at your photo I can get that weather by staying right here! 


Seems like you could put a woodstove in that garage and be prepared for winter woodenware building next year.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Welcome. Throw a heater in that garage and get to it, spring will be here before you know it.


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

Welcome to BeeSource and good luck with your hives! Agree with Tenbears, your bees will be here and you'll be off to the races!


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Welcome! You'll find this site, inspiring (sometimes), funny (sometimes), stupid (at times) but addicting....... all the time!


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## JohnNY78 (Oct 25, 2013)

snl said:


> Welcome! You'll find this site, inspiring (sometimes), funny (sometimes), stupid (at times) but addicting....... all the time!


I agree!


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## IsedHooah (Jan 13, 2015)

Welcome to beekeeping and this forum!


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## Mutt bee (Jan 11, 2015)

Welcome to BeeSource Squirrel !


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome Evan!


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## SquirrellyOne (Feb 24, 2015)

Thanks for the warm welcome all!



TenBears said:


> ...Throw a heater in that garage and get to it...





Rader Sidetrack said:


> ...put a woodstove in that garage...


Yeah... I have plans for a wall mount natural gas heater since I have gas service running alongside the garage. Hopefully this coming summer. For now I just hop in there for a couple hours at a time whenever the temps are above 20F or so.



JohnNY78 said:


> ...Also you might want to requeen those packages a month after getting them with a local queen to your area. I went 2 years with packages and both winters they died. very cold up that way...


I also am concerned about these package bees from Georgia overwintering. I'm building the woodenware for 3 all-medium hives and will attempt to catch a local swarm to fill that 3rd hive. Splits and such might be a bit overzealous for my first season in the hobby, but maybe I can get some local queens from other local beekeeepers later in the season. I expect that with the extremely harsh winter this year there won't be many with extras though.

I actually made some progress last night by ripping down boards for medium boxes.


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## jbuzz (Jan 27, 2015)

Welcome Squirrel. Don't worry about overwintering. You keep them healthy, prepare them winter in the fall and they will make. We all lose some.
They will make you some fantastic honey here in western New York, Good luck!!!


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## AL from Georgia (Jul 14, 2014)

Welcome to the forum, good luck with your bees.


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Hello! and welcome. You might want to look up Pat Bono, she runs Bee Wellness, has a good website, too. Worth looking into. Have fun with your bees


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## SquirrellyOne (Feb 24, 2015)

Cloverdale said:


> ... look up Pat Bono, she runs Bee Wellness...


She is actually who I've been in touch with about my package bees!


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## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

SquirrellyOne said:


> She is actually who I've been in touch with about my package bees!


And a good person as well.


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

clyderoad said:


> And a good person as well.


Yes! she is, and has done great things for Beekeepers and honey bees with Bee Wellness :thumbsup:


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

SquirrellyOne said:


> She is actually who I've been in touch with about my package bees!


Great, you are in good hands!


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## SquirrellyOne (Feb 24, 2015)

I finally got out to a Rochester Beekeepers meeting and met Pat Bono and watched her install a package of bees into a hive. It was a great experience and gives me more confidence for when my bees arrive in early May.

In the meantime, I've been finishing up my hives. I built a couple of medium Langs worth of gear. Most of my woodenware is from salvaged lumber and culled scraps from the local yard.









I decided to go with screened bottom boards with removable boards for closing them off and mite monitoring purposes.


















I used Fiber Reinforced Plastic scraps from my kitchen remodel - it's thin enough to fit in a 1/8" blade kerf, stiff enough not to fall out even in the summer heat, bright white and easy to clean. I hope it serves well.









In addition to traditional inner covers and telescoping pieces I also came up with a combo quilt box/feeder/top entrance that I might try out. I'm curious what others think of it.

Here it is without actual quilt material filled in:









A view into the feeder/top entrance. The idea is you stick a quart Ball jar feeder in to cover the hole. Leave it in there empty to close the hole up entirely when that's most appropriate, or drop in a piece of wood with the hole size of your choice to make a defensible top entrance.









The top cover is then a Warre style telescoping cover with ventilation and access holes for the bees to get in and out.




























Curious to hear what people think. In the absence of bees to work I guess I've just been playing in the woodshop


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Wow SO, you have been busy. You have come up with some good ideas. Are you going to add some screening on the outer cover in the ventilation areas? and I like the tray material, too. I saw Pat at the SABA Seminar in March, a nice bee lady and very bee smart. You are lucky to have her close.


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