Bear Damage

[WVbeekeeper]

I had things going pretty good spring of '05 until the bears hit my hives. I started feeding hives in February to stimulate some brood rearing. You can see the empty boxes over the inner cover here. This is the left hive stand.



This is a picture looking down the hives.



In April I was starting some nucs and here you can see me with my kids. This is the middle hive stand after I quit feeding.



I went on vacation for a week in May and came back to this. Every hive had been knocked over by a bear.

[WVbeekeeper]

Here's a hive that got rolled down the hill.



And another one.



And some more.



And some more...

[WVbeekeeper]

I managed to sit these two back up.



Only to have the bear come back and get into them again.



I found frames all over the hillside. I actually found a few this year that I missed last year and the year before.



I managed save a few hives. Some of the ones I salvaged absconded about a week later. Maybe their queen got killed out and they raised a new one and all left together. These hives remained weak all that year.

[WVbeekeeper]

This is another abscondee.



Another picture looking down the line where the hives had used to bee.



After I cleaned up all the hives that got killed out I called the DNR to come out. The told me not to touch anything else and to not even try to save what I had left. They said that if I touched or moved anything or tried to clean up that they would not pay for it because they had to physically see the damage. That was hard bullet to bite. I've never been as distraught as I was with my bees laying where the bear had left them. So I took some pictures over the next few days while I was waiting for a DNR agent. It took them over a week to finally come out. This was the year I almost quit keeping bees. I was digging around in some old photos this evening and thought I'd share my worst year ever keeping bees.

[kc in wv]

Talking about the DNR. This spring a beekeeper friend of mine got hit by a bear and her cubs. He called the DNR and while 2 DNR officers and a State Police was sitting at his house they came back. The officers would not let him do anything but watch them take out the rest of his 12 hives.

Yesterday I spoke with one of my crop insurance clients in Pocahontas county. The bears had got into his field corn this summer. The DNR ordered the bears killed and the hunter killed 16 male bears

[Jeffzhear]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Your children will treasure those pictures you and them in the future as I do of the ones I have of my Dad and me.

It's even tough for me to look at your pictures and see the damage. Sorry...

I have honeybee yards in bear country and I primarily use the zareba sp10 solar fencer with baited fences to keep the critters out. You might consider it if you haven't already.