Darn kids knocked over my hives

[LEAD PIPE]

In passing on THURSDAY my wife tells me a couple of kids were in our woods. No big deal a couple of neighbor kids play paint ball back there. Today, SUNDAY, I decide to take a walk back to the hives after church and was shocked to see them both knocked down. At first I thought a bear came through, rare in CT but it happens from time to time. As I got closer I realized that none of the frames were strewn about and smashed like I've seen in the pictures involving bears. I suddenly remember the kids in the woods my wife told me about. When I start to put things back together I noticed that the bees were all mixed together (I have 2 races) They didn't appear to be fighting I guess this happened because the hive bodies were intermingled on the ground. I got the hives back up and found eggs in one hive. The other hive had the brood nest and 2nd deep still together and I was able to put them up without taking them apart. I didn't want to disturb them so I didn't open it up.
I reduced the entrances on them both before I left.

Lesson learned, proplis is your friend when your hives get knocked down.

How long should I wait before I check them?
What do you think about the 2 hives mixing?
Where can I get a shot gun and some rock salt?
J/K I guess this is payback for the stupid stuff I did as a kid.

[Madison68]

I had a hive a year ago get knocked over during a tropical storm. I took 40 stings getting them back together. I dought them getting mixed up will hurt. They should settle down in a few days so that would be a good time to do an inspection. I would check to make sure the queen wasn't hurt or killed. Mine was and was replaced by the hive. As far as what the kids did I would track them down and let them know that the price to play in the woods is respect your hives. I wince at some of my memories of tormenting my grandmother's neighbors as a youngster. Communicating with them is first step. Hopefully that will work. Good luck to you. Madison...

[Michael Bush]

>Where can I get a shot gun and some rock salt?

Leather boot laces or bacon rind works better than rock salt. ;)

[busybguy]

Bear hit my hives twice in one night last week, apparently it don't mind shock therapy. The brood boxes were strewn all over the place so I just started sticking them back together, didn't know what went where but the bees weren't fighting so things might turn out okay. I moved them to another yard and am going to leave them alone for a couple weeks to let them cool down. The bear will feel the 30:06 if in the right place at the right time.

[Brent Bean]

Hopefully the bees got in a few punches, and the vandals are scratching their welts and thinking that wasn’t such fun after all.
If you get an opportunity to talk to them you could point out that if they had fallen and say broken an ankle they could have experienced a severe stinging episode.

[BjornBee]

Your accepting alot of liability and responsibility for allowing kids to play not only on your property, but with bees in the area.

Food got thought....

I had a discussion with an insurance company that covers hobby beekeepers, sideliners, etc.

They stated that the first line of defense for any liability or lawsuit, is having your yards clearly posted. And limiting access, or at least having control who has access to your yards.

Now that you "know" the kids "know" about the bees, imagine if a future encounter by some playful youths ends in a stinging episode or a broken leg.

How would you answer an attorney when asked about your knowledge of nieghborhood kids playing in the area of your hives? And did you do anything? Is the yard marked? Is there any barrier to restrict access? Did you realize even the smallest amount of possible danger or risk in keeping bees?

I don't have my yards marked. I usually don't even think about things like this. But I don't have kids playing around my hives. And I think that if I had a situation as you pointed out, the area would be off limits to nieghborhood kids. If they are not mature enough to respect the property, they are certainly not mature enough to play around my hives. I personally would let them know the area is off limits.

Its sad, but in todays world, you should think about things like this.

[phil c]

I had a hive knocked over a couple weeks ago during a wind storm. Cold wet bees all over the place. Only one frame in a med super damaged. Put the frame backtogether got a whole mess of stings and quite a few dead bees but Queen came through ok and getting ready to harvest. Best of luck with yours and keep them meddlin kids away from your hives!

[LEAD PIPE]

I'm sure the kids who paint ball weren’t the ones that knocked the hives over. Not sure who these "new" kids are. My bees have a fence around them that was also broken to get to the bees. I always thought that a sign would invite trouble but maybe it's a good idea.

These weren’t young kids, 16-17 year olds

[Hobie]

These weren’t young kids, 16-17 year olds

In my experience, that is the age when kids know everything, don't care about anyone but themselves, have no respect for others, have no sense of responsibility, and generally do not grasp the concept of "consequences" for their actions. Oh, and they are immortal.

[Axtmann]

I also had some problems with knocking down my hives last year. I could see wheel traces in the grass and fixed the guys. I sharpened some rebar and stick it in the grass round my hives and one day I could see there was someone with two flat tiers not fare from where I had the colonies. Never had a problem since than….so far.

[LEAD PIPE]

I'm setting up a trail camera. Hopefully it wont happen again but if it does I can find out who it is and knock on their door.

[BjornBee]

I'm taking 3 to 1 odds that the camera will be stolen before you get a picture... ;)

[Barry Digman]

Be careful. We were having trouble with a kid in our neighborhood who was breaking into cars and generally vandalizing and stealing stuff. I caught him in the act and chased him back to his house. When he got to his porch, he turned around and said "I'm going to shoot you...". Long story short, he's in custody with "juvenile probation", whatever that is. It could have ended badly for me.

[timgoodin]

Sorry to hear about your problem with the kids. Time was my brother and I would not have had time to play with paint ball or play at all. Growing up on a dairy/tobacco farm seems like Dad always had something we needed to do to keep up busy. In looking back, it didn't hurt either one of us one bit. I'm afraid our TV rearing of children these days will end up being a problem for a lot of kids/youth as they enter the work force and take care of us as we become seniors....Oh well enough of my opinions...hopefully those kids will find 4-H or some other useful organization before it's too late.

Question about out yards, I want to avoid the vandals if at all possible. I can accomidate several hives here on our farm relatively easy but would like to locate some hives on my Mother's farm which is about 250 miles away from me. Is this too far away to effectively manage a dozen hives or so in an outyard (assuming they are established hives not pkgs or nucs)? What about theft and vandalism? Curious to hear other's experiences.

[Panhandle Bee man]

Coyote,

He shoots you in the middle of the street, he's in trouble. He shoots you in his yard, you're in trouble for threatening him.

Juvenile Probation, the JPO visits the kid at school every other month for 6 months, and if there has been no other legal issues within the 6 months, the slate is wiped clean.

[ScadsOBees]

I would check them every day, and do an internal hive check within a week or so. I don't think mixing will be a problem as long as the queens are in seperate hives.


J/K I guess this is payback for the stupid stuff I did as a kid.

Isn't it amazing how it angers and disgusts us and then we start remembering...although in all honesty I was a lot less destructive :cool:

Although I was just at a state park bathroom where some little ---- smeared ---- all over the floor.... That made me mad.

Rick

[Brent Bean]

BjornBee makes a good point in posting your property, in today’s legal world someone can vandalize your property in if in the pursuit of breaking the law get hurt sue you. We run a U-Pick blueberry patch with eleven hives about 300 yards away I post signs warning curious onlookers to stay away. Probably wouldn’t save me from someone trying to sue but it would provide me some kind of defense.

[Barry Digman]

BjornBee makes a good point in posting your property, in today’s legal world someone can vandalize your property in if in the pursuit of breaking the law get hurt sue you. We run a U-Pick blueberry patch with eleven hives about 300 yards away I post signs warning curious onlookers to stay away. Probably wouldn’t save me from someone trying to sue but it would provide me some kind of defense.



I noticed a while back that the K-9 police officers replaced the signs at their own homes that read "Warning...", or "Beware..." with signs that simply read "Dog on Premises". I suppose it means "This thing will rip your throat out, but I'm not admitting it because you'll sue me and claim I knew he would bite and you didn't do enough to prevent me from climbing over your fence..."

I see someone selling signs on Ebay that read "Warning - Killer Bees". That's just inviting a problem.

I get the sense that property owners should not post anything that indicates they know they have something like a dog that bites or a bee that stings. Rather just post that it's on the property.

[Cyndi]

Hopefully the bees got in a few punches, and the vandals are scratching their welts and thinking that wasn’t such fun after all.

Yea, go around town and look for the kids with all the stings or swollen bodies. Then I'd have a talk with their parents. I'd make them do chores around the bee yard for punishment, :D

[John Gesner]

I'm setting up a trail camera. Hopefully it wont happen again but if it does I can find out who it is and knock on their door.

Make sure you use one without a flash.

I'll bet they won't be back.

[notaclue]

Yeah. As long as the parents agree. My older daughter tells me "I'm your sweet lil angel." and smiles all innocent. I can't fool myself, that halo is held on with horns (they have my blood) on all my kids. Fortunately we've tried to instill respect of those around them by manners, work, courtesy and whatever else my wife and I can think of. Hopefully they'll never be involved in that type of action.

Now they can't wait to get in the bees and get some ferals out and moved. Even with a deadly heat index. Well I'll have to keep 'em hydrated and take many breaks.

Hopefully everything is okay with your hives. My dogs keep sleeping on top of mine with the cat.