Vandals

[lindsay s]

Having kept bees for the last 30 years there have been occasions when they have suffered undue stress. In the early years it was due to my inexperience and more recently it was storm damage that caused the problems. I have become more experienced with time and I thought I was well prepared to cope with most aspects of beekeeping but yesterday I was in for a shock.

When I arrived at my apiary I found one of my hives tipped over and to say I was disappointed would have been putting it mildly. I have six hives in a row sitting on concrete blocks. Hive number two was lying on its side with all parts separated. My first thoughts were one of the horses in the field next door had caused the damage but as I got closer it soon became clear that vandals were responsible. Stones and a few broken bits of wood surrounded the hive. There is a pile of stones near my apiary, which provided easy ammunition for the vandals. It looks like they started by throwing stones at the hive and then they used bits of wood to push the hive off its stand. I think when the hive split open the ensuing mass of bees was enough to scare off the vandals because the rest of my hives were untouched.

It quickly became clear that other bees were also robbing out my damaged hive. So after putting the 14 x 12 brood box back on its stand I checked all the frames. Some brood frames were damaged but luckily I found the queen on my third attempt and she seems to be O.K. The hive was put back together minus its super, some brood frames and about 50 per cent of its bees. I have also closed down its entrance because of the robbing. Hopefully I have managed to salvage the situation and I will check the hive in a few days time. If the bees die out then its one less varroa free colony in Orkney.

My apiary is on busy farm on the outskirts of Kirkwall and the hives can be seen from a public footpath about 600 metres away. The obvious thing to do now would be to move the hives somewhere else but I don’t want to do that. I have kept bees here for the last 20 years without any trouble and the landowner is an exbeekeeper who has been more than accommodating. I would hate to lose this site so I will stick things out for the moment.

I reported this incident to the police. I’m hoping this attack is a one off and the vandals don’t bring their friends back to have a go at the bees. Many times I have returned home from my apiary cursing that my bees aren’t doing what they are supposed to but yesterday I came home with a heavy heart

[Jon]

That's sickening. I had teenagers try and tip my hives over a couple of years ago. Orkney is hardly a crime hot spot.
A senior beekeeper locally keeps some of his colonies at the top of a quarry and a while back he had 4 or 5 tipped over a 100 foot drop and they were destroyed. A couple were left untouched as he reckons the bees tipped over rose up and drove away the vandals before they could do even more damage.
I bet it would not be rocket science to ask around and find out who was responsible.

[Calum]

Terrible.
Post the picutres of the vandalism around the town at least - they might be shamed by seeing their destruction into thinking again before doing it again. (one can hope).
Lots of problems in Germany and Austria this year with beehives being stolen.
In the forums here there is news that they caught one on a digital camera stealing hives.
It was apparently something bog standard with a motion sensor - I will try to find out what it was.
Maybe someone here can make a recommendation... Although I think in Orkeny there may be a lack of trees for hiding them in!
Could only find Frankonia Gamekeeper I. Or Google Wild camera.
http://www.nextag.com/wild-camera/compare-html - not a recommendation I have never tried the site or the products - just food for thought.

[Trog]

All we can hope is that the bees fought back.

Another bit of vandalism here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/10226145.stm

[lindsay s]

Here is a link to yet more vandalism.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-11613249