# Anyone TF in Eastern PA?



## Bleumunkie (Nov 12, 2008)

Just like what the title says - looking to see if anyone has any survivor strains in this general area.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Bjorn Apiaries, 696 Potts Hill Rd. Lewisberry, Pa. 17339


----------



## Bleumunkie (Nov 12, 2008)

Michael Bush said:


> Bjorn Apiaries, 696 Potts Hill Rd. Lewisberry, Pa. 17339


Thank you sir - Just what I was looking for.

and 30 mins closer than how far I drove to buy my hive equipment.:applause:

I will definitely contact to visit and check them out. Should make a great motorcycle ride some weekend.


----------



## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

We bought 2 late July nucs off Bjorn. They were actually 8 frame mediums that were very heavy with bees and capped brood. I fed them like crazy so they would have enough stores for the winter. We ended up with 2 full mediums and partial 3rd medium of bees for the winter. I would give him a positive review on his bees but his bees did not really convince me that treatment free is the way to go. 

My 12 year old son and I began beekeeping in 2015 and we have lots to learn. We started in 2015 with 2 top bar hives. One from a package and another from a swarm. The ones from Bjorn were are 3 and 4th hive. 

We were trying to figure out what philosophy or method of beekeeping we wanted to follow. At first I was intrigued with the treatment free thinking. 

We bought a Oxalic Acid Vaporizer in case we needed it sometime. We did several sugar rolls but never had high counts. Maybe 2-3 mites in 300 bees . 

During our warm December we decided to try out the Oxalic Acid Vaporizer. We checked the bottom bottom board a few days later. We were shocked at the amount of mites on the bottom board. There were several hundred mites on the bottom board. We did another round of Oxalic Acid Vaporizing on Christmas day (crazy 70 degree day in Pennsylvania) . On the second round we only had 20-30 mites.

After that we sort of lost our enthusiasm for treatment free beekeeping. I think treatment free is sort of possible but it takes quite a bit of work and probably harder than using treatments. We talked to too many folks that lost a high percentage of bees every year. 

We are quite thrilled that all 4 hives survived the winter on our first year.

We are amazed at how fast over wintered bees built up in the Spring.. One of our 48" top bar hives is almost 90% full. I suspect that we will have to split the hive in the very near future or it will swarm. The 8 frame mediums are both building like crazy. We already have our 4th medium on and will likely have to add more in the very near future.


----------



## Bleumunkie (Nov 12, 2008)

Don't get me wrong - I haven't kept bees at all yet, but from what I understand treatment free isn't about bees that have no mites or exceptionally low mites without treatments - it's about having a strain of bees that can tolerate and live through a level of mites that would kill other hives, or manage the numbers themselves.

Please - if I have the wrong idea someone please explain the right idea to me, but so far that is what I have come up with. TF bees tolerate a mite population, or manage the mite population themselves. (ie: the amount of mites found after the treatment may be normal for that hive - and it may have been surviving just fine. but if not.... let the mites win, and chalk it up to the loser side of survival of the fittest.)


----------



## Briarvalleyapiaries (Feb 26, 2015)

I certainly respect folks on both sides of the discussion. I basically wanted to give my first hand opinion on Bjorn . Than I sort of got started on my journey as a beekeeper and sort of got a bit long winded.

One of the things that baffles me as new beekeeper is the intensity and bad mouthing that goes on between different philosophy and methods of beekeeping. 

Seems to me treatment free and and pro treatment ADULTS should be able to have civll conversations about beekeeping.

My son and I are greatly enjoying our journey as beekeepers. Bees are extremely fascinating.


----------



## Bleumunkie (Nov 12, 2008)

oh, absolutely. I'm sorry if I came off as harsh or anything. I'm completely interested in discussing pretty much everything bee related at this moment!

I'm glad you and your son are enjoying yourselves - whichever amount of treating / TF you've chosen.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>There were several hundred mites on the bottom board.

That is a VERY low number. If you had a bad mite infestation there would have been thousands. Many thousands.


----------



## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Michael Bush said:


> >There were several hundred mites on the bottom board.
> 
> That is a VERY low number. If you had a bad mite infestation there would have been thousands. Many thousands.


Agreed, I consider under 5% infestation rate ok, good would be somewhere under 2%. So if you have 20000 bees in your hive there can be 400 mites and that would actually be better that ok.

Tip: Count small portion of the hive bottom, a slice. Estimate the total number of mites roughly by multiplying mites in the slice with the number of slices. Usually the number of mites is actually much higher that in the first look would seem. Example: In the first look you would say here are couple hundred mites, but after you counted them the truth might be somewhere between 500 and 1000.


----------



## JWChesnut (Jul 31, 2013)

According to the Bjorn webpage, Mike T. is not taking orders for queens or nucs.
http://www.bjornapiaries.com/queensbees.html

He was importing packages from a supplier, but cancelled delivery and is refunding deposits.


----------



## Bleumunkie (Nov 12, 2008)

JW - Yea, I've seen that, but I wanted to know more for future reference and purchasing nucs in the future than right this moment. 

I've always operated on the theory that when you're dealing with 100% nature (organic crops from local farms, rain for your new grass seed, etc.) - your schedule never matters. Get your information so far ahead of your "schedule" that you can act at a moments notice to accomplish your goals.


----------

