protecting our hives from vandals

[mmundy]

Last winter I found my hive with the lid knocked off and the bees exposed to the elements. There was some snow under the lid, but the rest was melted, so I concluded some kids did this on a snow-day when they stayed home from school a few days earlier. There were a few rocks and limbs laying about and I figured some kids had gotten brave. Is it a sin to hope they got stung?

My real question is this... What are some methods for protecting the hives from brave kids? I thought about wrapping a chain around the stack of supers and securing it with a padlock. That way the supers could be knocked over but not knocked apart. Another idea is a chicken-wire dome or similar structure over the hives.

What have the rest of you done or seen done to protect roadside bee yards?

[hoosierhiver]

are you sure a gust of wind didn't blow it off?,that has happened to my hives before.i sometimes put a cinder block on top of the hive,that takes a little effort for someone to move off.

[clintonbemrose]

I also have seen the wind blow off covers and also knock over hives. I use a cement block on most hives and they stay put.
Clint

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Clinton Bemrose
just South of Lansing Michigan

[mmundy]

Yeah, I put a rock on top of the lid. Actually, the lid was on the ground as was the top super which had housed my feeder pail which was also on the ground along with the inner cover. The upper hive body was exposed to the cold air. After this achievement, the vandals threw another rock which jammed a few of the frames down in between the walls of the upper hive body.

It took me a while to put the evidence together and figure out where the culprits had probably stood while lobbing their torpedoes.

[BILLY BOB]

The best thing I could think of is, try talking with your neighbors and see if mom or dad could help keep the kids in line. A fence would help alot!, but the cost can be high. I try to keep my hives out of sight from the public, just for this reason.

BB

[Michael Bush]

I agree it might have blown off. Mine do all the time even with bricks on them. A concrete block will solve two problems. It takes a lot more bravery to walk up to a hive and pick up the block and throw it off and then pull the lid off, than to just knock the lid off. You can get a strap and strap it together. I don't think it's necessary to make it impossible to get off, just difficult. Most "brave" kids are still not going to hang around a hive long enough to take the strap off. When I was a kid there was a hive of bees in the wall of a garage in an alley and other kids would throw rocks to see the bees get stirred up. I think this is a bigger problem. Of course I just wanted to watch the bees and I got mad when they threw rocks, but then I was always weird.

[ikeepbees]

I have one yard where kids would mess with a corner hive; I just put a ratchet type strap around that hive and the kids left it alone. Like Michael said, if you just make it a little more difficult for them they will often leave it alone.

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Rob Koss

[loggermike]

Once when I was logging ,the man working next to me began hollering for me to come over and look at something.When I got there,he said go look at the growth rings on that stump.Puzzled,I walked over to look at the stump,just as he sailed a limb through a ball faced hornet nest hanging from a limb above the stump.Some kids never grow up.

[BILLY BOB]

Logger Mike

I think I kill sombody for doin' that to me! Well......I try to kill them twice

BB

[BWrangler]

Hello Everyone,

In Wyoming some of the yahoo troubling hives ride horses. We found a lasso around one hive and the hive pulled over. Also found the guys cowboy hat down the road aways. Seems he didn't have time to stop and pick up either item :> )

A fellow I worked for believed every beeyard should have a good guard hive by the gate.

Regards
Dennis


[This message has been edited by BWrangler (edited August 26, 2003).]

[Michael Bush]

>A fellow I worked for believed every beeyard should have a good guard hive by the gate.

Maybe a hot hive is good for something.

[loggermike]

>>I think I kill sombody for doin' that to me!
Wanted to,but was too busy running and jumping logs!Ever hear a ripped open ball hornet nest?You wont forget it ,sounds like the air is full of bombers.
We get vandalism every year to a few hives.The worst was when some dufus ran a truck into some hives repeatedly till they were all knocked over and the honey crop on them was ruined.Like to spit some Beechnut in that dudes eye and.........

[Russ]

Sounds like kids playing with their 4Wheelers. We had a local case of this type where they were driving out in a corn field just to see how far they could go. It was on a dead end road so the farmer went to the County Comm. and got permission to close off the road. Like always the actions of a few hurt the larger Number.

[Ian]

This spring someone or somebody had driven their truck right through my beeyard!!! Finding the mess sortof makes your heart sink. The hives plowed over didn't recover intime for the honey flow, but I think they will be okay for winter. It is a wonder how much abuse a colony can take and not kill them.
All a part of beekeeping I guess...

Ian

[ikeepbees]

They really are tough. I had one hive that went over this Spring. This hive, at the time, appeared as if it was going to my best producer. When the landowner called and told me it had fallen (I really think it was just blown over in a bad thunderstorm, that stand was not quite level due to beekeeper inattention,) I went and righted it, but it had been over about 3 days. It still ended up being my best producer, making a little over 150 lbs. of honey.

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Rob Koss