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Poachers

18K views 49 replies 28 participants last post by  Skinner Apiaries 
#1 ·
Hey i have a small operation 100-150 hives , we have had a big increase in beekeepers in where i live due some individuals thinking everyone needs to have a hive in their backyard. So here is the question i have recently found some swarm traps on the outskirts of my yards within 500' or so of my hives ,really pissed me off other people specifically targeting my yards, am i just in these feelings. Thanks
 
#30 ·
I'm with Dan Y, Don't get bent. Practice good swam control, if a swarm wanders off consider it lost, wether it hits someone elses box, a home or a hollow tree. It would have been a loss anyway.

The thought of messing with someones stuff with bee gone or anything else.... just make my blood boil! How would you like someone spraying your hive with raid? Hey they are stining insects arent they? Hence a threat? One of the kids could have had an anaphalictic (sp) responce and ended up in the hospital... (JUSTIFIED????) No.

Practice good swarm control, Meet your neighbors and develop a GOOD relationship with your fellow beekeepers!

I don't agree with Doc on the livestock sililoquy in that The colony is in itself the property of the owner, as are those additional colonies eht beekeeper places out. But the beekeeper never has the control over his livestock as a cattle herder does.
 
#32 ·
Sorry I failed to mention that I use his yard as a bee yard as well. That statement was not meant to be a statement of posession but of poor swarm management.

If bees are not livestock then beekeepers are not considered farmers I guess?

Personally if I lose a swarm it's no big deal where they end up (other than mailboxes etc.), if they wish to go feral so be it. If another beek catches them so be it. I lose them anyway.

Bees are only "legally wild animals" as long the law says so. The targeted vandalism thing sort of goes against the statement of "legally wild animals". Should he not call the police in that situation rather than some sort of vigilante justice? Maybe a good lynching is in order?

Point being there is no need for someone to be setting swarm traps right around his bee yard hoping to profit from his misfortune. Legally maybe acceptable, morally not so.
 
#33 ·
Technically or historiclly it's livestock & ranching not farming a farmer grows from the ground. So as not to start a whole other debate livestock is something that can be controled or in the case of open range ranching can be branded or marked for identification. I would look at beekeeping more on the ranching side no matter how the government would label it & just because of the nature of the beast (insects), no they are not livestock to be branded or marked for identification upon leaving the hive.
 
#38 ·
I have an old beekeeper that rides around some of my yards during swarm season looking for swarms to catch that have moved away from my yards. He always tells me if he finds one. Some years he complains that they did not swarm. Well, duh, we nuc and split the devil out of them. So I am like Jim lyons, I would rather see them in the old guys box than in a hollow tree or house wall space somewheres. TED
 
#39 ·
In Ontario Bee laws and regulations if you are actively chasing a swarm they are considerably your property and you have the right to enter another person's property to retrieve them. As soon as you stop chasing them, someone can chase them and assume ownership. If they enter someone else's equipment you no longer have legal claim to them. That is my understanding of the law anyways, though the law doesn't always make good neighbour's :)
 
#45 ·
In Ontario Bee laws and regulations if you are actively chasing a swarm they are considerably your property and you have the right to enter another person's property to retrieve them. As soon as you stop chasing them, someone can chase them and assume ownership. If they enter someone else's equipment you no longer have legal claim to them. :)
Actually that seems very reasonable IMO, I would feel that way about someone catching one of my swarms or me of theirs.
 
#42 ·
To the best of my knowledge, Wannabee's statements are an accurate reflection of common law, that may or may not have been codified. For example, I own a bee tree in the State forest, due to the fact that my initial's are on it. If it was in my county, which rescinded the common law, it would not be mine.

P.S. You should have seen the look on the State Forester's face when I explained the law. He could not find anything to say it was NOT my tree.

Crazy Roland
 
#44 ·
In today's time, could an environmental group, person, etc., file charges of vandalism against people who claim they own a bee tree because their initials are on it...they may not argue about the person's ownership of the bees but claim the beek is admitting to defacing/vandalizing the tree? Just thinking "outside the tree" with a "what if" scenario.

Btw Roland...interesting law, thanks for sharing.

Ed
 
#47 ·
>If they enter someone else's equipment you no longer have legal claim to them

Good, now I don't feel bad about all the bait swarms I catch. Catchers Bee Keepers Losers Bee Weepers. I need a bumper sticker like that.
 
#50 ·
so if I go after my pigs on someones land, and they coral them, they get to keep them? Not likely. Real livestock precedence could easily outweigh this in court. Presuming you can prove something is yours. That aside. This is kind of a dumb thread. If you have neighbors harassing your op, have a talk with them.
 
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