All good comments, but queen rustling does take place. A very observant beekeeper I used to know well had batches of queens disappear from time to time and he noticed signs of an intruder in the apiary. Also C4U had someone steal the central frames of some stocks last year or perhaps the year before - not in every case with the queen.
Last edited by gavin; 09-08-2015 at 11:40 AM.
Interesting stuff. Must be some seriously hardened crims in your part of the world -even taking the middle frames without bothering to find the queen would in my oppinion fall into the same realm as hive theft -quick(ish), but searching for queens has got to be at the high end of the game; the sort of person who'd take the time to do that probably isn't the sort of person you'd want to catch in the act.Originally Posted by gavin
Most years there is some report of theft in Scotland somewhere, but one a year would be about all that reaches my ears. The queen thefts were quite far from here. The victim suspected a local beekeeper but when I was last in touch didn't have the proof. Whether or not you want to catch the person in the act depends upon the opinion and the relative sizes and strengths of beekeeper and thief I suppose.
Mindset makes the ultimate difference irrespective of size or strength. Sorry to say but a lot of people who think that they could deal with a full on assault fail to do so if it actually happens simply because they don't possess the ability to switch from nice person to animal. Of those that do come out on top, there are usually some nasty injuries and scars to deal with afterwards.
I reckon that someone who cares so little for their own freedom that they'd hang around looking for queens when there are quicker ways to the accomplish their nefarious desires has probably already got an edge on most people.
But this is of course nothing more than speculation.
when I removed my badly mated queen and replaced her with one from a keiler (vid)
I put her in the keiler as a delaying tactic because she was laying
Checked today but she is gone they have a queen cell
If you think someone might pinch your queen dont mark them
Mark a few bees instead
I did this once when I knocked the bottle of marking fluid into the hive
Perhaps that was serendipity
[QUOTE=prakel;31581
But this is of course nothing more than speculation.[/QUOTE]
Perhaps they were beamed aboard the mother ship and had probes inser.............
Oh no that's II
I knew I had read that somewhere
It happens. One season we turned up to do a group of hives near Blairgowrie. It was a large group placed there for the raspberries.
The first 24 hives were all bee depleted and queenless and the boxes had been put back on less than neatly. EQC's everywhere. The remaining 12 colonies at the far end of the group were completely normal. Someone wanted some queenright shook swarms.
Just this week one of my hives in Aberdeenshire was found open, and the middle combs from the broodnest were gone, inc a queen. Nice 6 bar nuc for someone. List of suspects might be shortish as they were Langstroths.
A few years ago, at the time we contracted a fresh case of AFB near Winchburgh, while the site was on standstill, someone stole bees and equipment from the site. Very dodgy.
This year again up north we discovered an array of the mankiest home made bait hives imagineable, with utterly dreadful ancient comb in them, placed covertly in the area around a couple of our apiaries. Looked like the work of more than one person as there were two distinct styles.
One year we put the clearer boards on a large group of hives near Ballater on a Friday. Came back on Monday morning and the honey crop was gone. They had even taken the cover boards and just placed the roof back down on top of the clearing boards. Estimate they got away with over a tonne. A vehicle was spotted at the same time near someone elses bees and a person interfering with the local keepers hives. The police traced the man down.
We get very minor theft almost every year, often just someone steals a comb of honey from the top super, but bee theft is becoming more common.
On the other side, I DID get the very kind offer of 42 hives from a couple of 'travelling people'. They had found someone's bees in a wood and were touting around for a client and then would steal to order.
Queen theft is not unknown too, we have gone into sites where we have been introducing queens and find hives disturbed and the queen cages missing. How on earth did they know to go THERE????
Last edited by Calluna4u; 09-08-2015 at 05:03 PM.
She's now posted on the bkf to confirm that the queens and a colony were stolen from her garden. So there it is...
That's something which I can 'understand' as there's a feeling of speed to it and there's not such a disproportionate value - to - risk balance as there is in the act of searching out individual free running queens.
We ourselves had plenty of experience of bee theft a few years ago, we even had the military police incorporate one of our apiaries which was located on one of their ranges into their regular 'round' because word had reached them that the colonies were being targeted; apparently a chap who lived 20 miles from that site was 'suspected' to be behind a series of thefts over a period of years but had never been caught.
Only this summer I've lost three 13 frame bs brood bodies which were stacked at a site ready to be used. Very much doubt the thief actually noticed that they were rectangular. Unless s/he collects antique bee gear.
Did that farmer get off plugging the pikey or was he sent down ?
seems to me nothings safe now
I've had my head in the sand (well mud round here)
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