No.

Personally I'm enraged that some people keep bees and don't think it's a big deal that their hives are infested with Small Hive Beetle or infected with American Foul Brood.

In my state, the only treatment for AFB has been burning the hive, and quickly. (The recent approval of Tylosin may change this). Yet some beekeepers think it's none of the government's business (nor mine) that they choose to keep dirty hives and infect/infest the rest of the hives in the county.

It's a big country, but we need to get along without hurting each other. If people could be trusted to keep their bees healthy and problem free, we wouldn't need inspectors, inspections or fees.

Your chief apiary inspector is one of the finest guys in the country. He's friendly, helpful, and knows more about bees than anyone else I know.

Instead of treating him as if he's a revenuer and you're a bootlegger, drop your attitude and give them a chance.

The government interferes with our lives a lot, when it comes to disease prevention, etc.

This is no different, and it's not a bad thing.

And this is coming from a guy who normally believes that any government intrusion is a bad thing.

Merry Christmas.

Felix,
Here's a solution: move to another state.

Every state sets their own bee laws and Florida is known to have some of the toughest in the union. Alternatively, you could work to repeal some of the Florida bee laws you disagree with [that's most likely to be like pis_ing against the wind for all the reasons ccrb1 stated].
Honeybees are considered livestock and as such, are certainly going to be controlled/inspected/licensed by some government entity (it's what keeps things like mad cow disease from getting out of control).
Ain't nuthing free nowadays.

Here, Edmonton eara, [in the boonies] you also have to be registered and the county knows how many hives you keep!
It's really for the good of everybody else who keeps bees, [DISEASE CONTROL]
At any time, your hives could be inspected.

When I went to bee class, the teacher was mentioning about a country, not sure anymore, Australia or new Zealand, they have a law in place, that each bee keeper can have a visit at the closest bee yard in the area for hive inspection, [you check his, he checks yours]
This type of inspection is working very well and they have the least amount of diseases.
Konrad

It's really not that big of a deal. Your permit fees go to pay for the inspector who will help you if you think you are having problems with disease in your hive.

The various registration programs originated because of widespread disease. In many cases this was likely due to a small handfull of beekeepers who failed to inspect or take care of their hives. Because of the way these diseases spread it becomes an issue infringing on rights or health and safety of others. There are plenty of examples: dog licenses, drivers license, building permits, permit to install (septic systems), etc. Freedom without rules and regard for others rights quickly becomes anarchy where only no one except perhaps those with the biggest guns have freedom.

In general registration actually a great deal here. The $5 apiary registration in Ohio get's your hives inspected by a trained and usually experienced beekeeper. Quite a bargin to get 10+ hives (and sometimes as many as 70 in my case) inspected. Of course you can opt out of the inspection in Ohio unless you sell bees or used equipment and save the taxpayers some money.

Felix:
You may find this link of interest, also your welcome to email me if you like.

http://www.beesource.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=004259

My main gripe is that the goverment want to watch every move we make and tell us what to do. Gun issue is another.
Who inspects the hives in the wild?
I do not want to make this a bigger issue.
For someone inexperiece with beekeeping as I am an inspector would be an asset to me. He or She can provide valuable information as I go along. We as American are loosing more privasy and freedom as we go. National ID card has already become a law. The information will be share with Mexico and Canada and soon with the EU. Cameras to see our every acts are everywhere.
Beekeepers I will not leave my state of Florida for this LOL.
I will get the permit for I am a law abiding American. I am a clean person so I will keep my hives clean.
Happy New Year to all!
Felix

Felix
thanks, also a wonderful new year to you and lots of joy with your bees!

I can feel for you!, most of us do.
You're a well respected citizen of USA
It's just a shame that it has to come this way.
I think it has to do with population increase and more
criminals live amongst us....tooo bad!

Konrad

I hear you about the camera thing Felix. My friend and I got on a website and zoomed down onto his house from a satelite in space and saw his cars parked in the driveway. That's freakin' nuts huh?

Soon "they" will be listening to individual converstations between bees in the hive!

[Oh no...wait... that was an 'Outter Limits' episode...]

The resolution with some of this aerial photography is amazing. Here is a pic of a piece of my property that I found on the Internet. From what is present elsewhere on my property in the much larger image, I know that it was taken in March, 2005. The resolution is better in the original; I reduced quality to get it down to a manageable size to upload. At the bottom is my house and drive with the farm road heading off from the drive past the barn to the corn fields in the top right. Pond is to the lower right. At the top of the pic on the other side of the lawn you can count six hives. If you look at the slightly darker land to the right of the barn you can see a couple of chickens inside their enclosure.

We have had an amazingly mild winter so far, which I have probably just jinxed. Here is a close up pic I took of some bee activity in early January.

Here's a pic from the same day of all of the hives. You can see the solar charger I've mentioned in prior posts.

narcnh

I just thought I'd read a bit about honeybees since I have had a "wild" hive for over 8 years. Four years ago, the tree the hive was in was destroyed and the bees removed to a bee keeper. The remaining bees from the hive took up residence in an older dead tree and I've been fascinated with them ever since. After reading the above, should I be concerned about "keeping" the hive and do I need to notify anyone? The hive seems healthy and active, but I don't really know what to look for. I would hate to interfere with them, and don't really want to move them to a 'boxed' hive. I hope this isn't a stupid question, as I really do care what happens to these bees.

Hives that are living on their own without interference are good stock. It means they have a natural resistance to most of the mites and other things that usually cause bees to die.

I would leave it alone. If they are doing fine, then let them be. Though if it were me, and only because I have bees, I would be setting swarm traps every spring to hope I could get some of the bees to take up residence. This would not affect the bees in the tree.

If the tree ever looks like it's going to fall down, you might want to enlist a beekeepr to see if you can get them into a box. As long as they are undisturbed, enjoy them as they are. They are usually better off without our interference.

Hi countrynest - It's not just america that is overzealously protected by governments.

I can't have a hive at all in my garden - I can't even get a permit because permits aren't issued at all.

luckily I do have several varieties of native bees that I encourage - the blue banded bee and several stingless varieties.

Only the stingless varieties are hive producers, but to collect the honey you have to kill the hive and for one or two cups of wild native honey I really don't think killing the hive is the right way to go - I get too many other benefits from the pollination.

Maybe it's time to declare your independance from the USA - lots of precedents in the past, but it may start a bee keepers war :-)

cheers from paradisi at Dicky Beach on the Sunshine coast in australia

I have to laugh about this. The county inspector knows less about bees than the beekeepers, he comes to me and 4 others for advise. I dont pay thier fees amd dont support thier activities.
I have yet to meet a county inspector that knows as much as the long time experanced Beekeepers.