Ok so I was looking at the bee vac site that latebee gave me and a link that said Illinois Bee and Apiary Act caught my atention. I was astounded to find that I had to register my hives and all current apiaries witht the state! I was even more astounded to find that there were fines for not complying :shock:
So as a moderator I felt that I should warn ya'll. If you haven't looked into the state law on bees, please look! It'll save you time and misery.
Pennsylvania requires that you register all of your apiaries and their locations with the state Department of Agriculture - Apiary Section. The cost is $10 for 2 years. This allows the state to have an inspector check your hive once a year for diseases or parasites.
Fortunately our current inspector has over 1000 hives himself which makes for a great source of information when I have any management related questions.
I pay $2 /yr. in Maine for up to 10 hives, and although Ive never met him, I hear our inspector is super helpful, right full of knowledge, stop by almost anytime asked, and very friendly, but also spread a bit thin. I think its worth it, just my laziness not taking advantage of it.
Wow! I guess I'm lucky to not have to pay anything to register as many hives as I want!!