Moving to Tennessee

[hawks00]

I will be moving to the Nashville - Murfreesboro - Franklin - Mt Juliet area by the end of the year due to my job being relocated to your offices in Tennessee. We have offices by the Airport, in Smyrna and La Vergne.

I would appreciate any help/ advice about relocating to this area especially in terms of beekeeping. I currently have 12 hives here in South Carolina. From my quick search it doesn't seem to make sense to move the bees, but to sell them and start fresh when we get to TN. How does the hive registration work up there? It seems like I can't even bring my equipment I have here with out getting it inspected here and then inspected and registered up there, is that true?

I currently run a single deep and a shallow to over winter with, will that setup work up there too?

[feltze]

Try contacting the NC dept of Agriculture, the state has an active apiary inspection program at no cost to the owner. http://www.ncagr.gov/

[Nantom670]

Here is the site which tells you what to do in Tn. They inspect them free and if registered and they have to destroy a hive they help to replace it. I believe most states inspect because bees are an important part of pollination. http://www.tnbeekeepers.org/learning.htm

[lissa]

Sorry to hear about your moving. I live in Westminster, SC. Not that far from you.
Hope you find a way to work it out to take the hives with you. I am new to beekeeping but am finding it extremely interesting and feel I'm becoming a bit obsessed with it. I look forward to having my first harvest, probably next year.

I wish I had found you on here sooner as I would have liked to have asked you some questions since you are in my general area.

I am a member of the Oconee County Beekeepers Association, (but no mentor), so if you decide you can't take some or all of your bees/hives let me know. Perhaps I can help you find someone local willing to purchase some of it from you.

[feltze]

Sorry, I am a dunce today, I ws thinking you were headed to NC... Disregard my previous post. Thanks

[beehonest]

I just moved to NC to TN back in January. You are required by law to register them, there is a form on the website. Micheal Studdar is the state apiarist. They are supposed to be inspected before moving in and moving out. Since I moved in Jan I could not do an inspection. I tried to jump through the hoops and play by the rules. They wanted me to put them on a quarentine yard for a year here in NC. But you don't have to register them in NC. TN didn't care enough to reply after 2nd or third email, so I just brought them here. No problems since but I am in the same boat as you now I am selling out temporarily, will be moving around for a while.

[luke0927]

I just moved to NC to TN back in January. You are required by law to register them, there is a form on the website. Micheal Studdar is the state apiarist. They are supposed to be inspected before moving in and moving out. Since I moved in Jan I could not do an inspection. I tried to jump through the hoops and play by the rules. They wanted me to put them on a quarentine yard for a year here in NC. But you don't have to register them in NC. TN didn't care enough to reply after 2nd or third email, so I just brought them here. No problems since but I am in the same boat as you now I am selling out temporarily, will be moving around for a while.

I agree with this, If it was just me and I had my small personal hives I would just move and take them with me and be done with it. Maybe talk to the inspector office and see how they are but if its that much trouble, I would say screw it...I mean I know they do a lot of good and trying to control disease etc...but come on how much government permission do you need to keep a few hives on your place....

[hawks00]

Thanks everyone. I will most likely just sell off my 12 hives and purchase new ones once I get settled in to the area. So bees for sale soon in the upstate of South Carolina.

[SteveBee]

Hey, Hawks00. Do you work for Schneider Electric? It sounds like from what you describe for office locations. I live in Murfreesboro and work in Nashville.

[JYawn]

Hey Hawks, welcome to Rocky Top. Hope you aren't a Gamecocks fan b/c it will take some time getting adjusted to all the TN fans you'll run into lol.

Personally I think our state apiarist must be a bit bogged down b/c from what I hear it takes a while to get a response on anything anyway. I can say this, I filled out the registration forms for my very first hive back in early May and still haven't recieved anything from them in response. So if you do register or try to contact them you may have to have a little patience.

[thenance007]

Welcome to the Nashville area, hawks00! We have a very active beekeeping association in Nashville with close to 300 members, mostly hobbyists with only a few hives mixed with some highly experienced "old timers". We meet the 2nd Sunday of each month at the Ellington Agricultural Center and usually have 75 - 100 attend. We always have a speaker and then break out into small groups for discussions and questions. It is a great group of friendly people. In late October we are bringing Gunther Hauk in for a workshop and screening of "Queen of the Sun". Our website is www.nashbee.org so check it out and join us.

Our state law allows bees anywhere and overrides any municipal bans, so you don't have to worry about being legal once you get here even though Nashville officially prohibits beekeeping in the urban areas. Don't know about the legality of bringing your bees although there don't seem to be any regulations against us purchasing packages and nucs from other states--most of them come from Georgia, but I assume there is some kind of inspection/certification process involved.

[David LaFerney]

Bees are supposed to be inspected before they are moved, but a second inspection is not required after the move as far as I know. We only have one state apiary inspector so he is spread mighty thin, but you can also get officially qualified inspections from qualified master bee keepers. All inspections are free. All hives are required to be registered - also free. It can be hard to get Mike Studer - unless you suspect foul brood - but none of it is really a big deal, or difficult at all. Welcome to TN.

[Beev]

What David said. I would have your local folks inspect and issue you a health certificate, send in the application, and then just move them. You probably won't hear from Micheal, and if you do you did what was required. He's a straight up guy and I don't think he would give you a hard time if you try to do things right. Here's the link to the info you need: http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/regula...vingbees.shtml

[hawks00]

Wow, thanks for all the support and information. As of right now we hope to be able to move right into a place were we can keep the bees, but it will depend how quickly we can sell our place here, so we may end up having to rent at first...who knows just got wait and see how the cards play out. I guess worst case is I leave them behind for the winter and let my son-in-law and BK friends look after them.

[David LaFerney]

I'll bet that someone in the local association would let you keep a few hives in their apiary while you rent. Or a new bee might be happy for the arangement in exchange for a bit of mentoring. There are a lot of friendly helpful people in this area.

[LongWoods]

Just as a note so you don't think Mike Studer (TN State Apiarist) is ignoring you. He was recently (several weeks back) in a vehicle accident and is recovering slowly.

He is a one man operation covering the entire state and when you meet him you'll see that he works sun up to sun down. He is definitely a great individual and quite knowledgeable, but due to typical state funding he has more than a plate full.

In the interim drop by a local club and ask to have one of the certified local inspectors help you out. Most I've met are good fellas.

[hawks00]

Thanks for all the information. I will check the website concerning registration and see if I can plan a visit up there around a club meeting too.