Racoon/damage?

[beeeee]

Last season I had three hives placed together and they were located about 100 yards from a guys home. This guy did not like bees and he was a jerk from the start. Sometime in August he demanded that I remove the bees because his children were being confined to the house due to the bee population. About this time last year we had some ground bees and small hornets that were everywhere. This guy thought they were my honeybees and demanded I move them. It's my land and I tried to explain to him that honey bees are not agressive or otherwise bothersome. Then for three nights in a row all three hives were tipped over and I immediately thought it was coons because there was no sign of bears and nothing was really chewed up. They were all 6 medium boxes tall at the time. I thought I had read somewhere that coons are able to cause damage to bee hives. I did not think it was the jerk because it would be pretty brave for a non beekeeper to somehow tip over bee hives without getting stung. I did not see any coons, skunks, or bear. Anyone know if a coon can tip over a beehive made up of 6 medium boxes mostly full of honey? Anyone know if there is a way to tip over bee boxes without getting stung? It was getting cool at night at the time this happened.

[jim lyon]

No can do for Racoons easy for people with little risk of stinging

[Vance G]

Stand em back up and borrow a trail cam and get him on tape. Then pursue him to the full extent of the law, criminal and civil. Or sell the land.

[Mr.Beeman]

Raccoons are not strong enough to tip over that many boxes. With it being propolized it would have to be tipped over as a unit.
Bees don't fly at night and are more likely to crawl, giving the perp plenty of time to do the deed.
Ratchet stap those hives and borrow a IR trail cam.
Post the pics when you get the perp.

[odfrank]

I have never known racoons to bother beehives. Skunks, mice, rats and vandals.

[UTvolshype]

A bear trap maybe in order to catch that big raccoon, must be over 4 feet long and over 120 lbs. Or just get a trail cam.

[jim lyon]

I have never known racoons to bother beehives. Skunks, mice, rats and vandals.

Actually I had an overwintered yard along a protected creek bottom years ago that was virtually destroyed by Racoons and have never seen anything like it since. They were in double deeps covered with cardboard cartons with lids on top held down only by bricks. No lids were nailed and through the course of the winter they had apparently learned all they needed to do to get in the hive was to slide a lid off the top and then it was fairly easy to open the carton and pull off the inner lid. They were actually able to pull out many frames and eat them as there were mostly eaten frames scattered all around. Our first thought was vandalism but it became pretty clear by the tracks and droppings that it was Racoons that that had spent the winter dismantling the yard. Seems like the only hives that escaped were some that had very large rocks holding the lids down.

[jrbbees]

All three for three nights. That ain't coons!
All he would need would be a hoe handle in the dark to push them over. Trail camera!
Talk to the police with the pictures. They MUST know what is happening and the jerk MUST know that they know!
Ask the police to go with you to talk to him.
You can offer not to charge and sue him for a written promise not to cause any other problems on your land.
Then if there are any other issues on your land he will be the first person they talk to.

Always involve the police so they know for your safety and then seek a peaceful resolution with him.
With time and wisdom you may be able to have a true peace with him.