[tsmullins]

Two days ago we had a bear damage two of our hives. We have since built a bear fence and are waiting for the bear to return.


Neither hive suffered severe damage. I am pretty sure our Airedale chased the bear away around five that morning. By 6:00 I had the hive back together. Several full frames of capped brood were strewn about.

My question is, will the frames of brood be viable? Temperatures at night were in the high 60s to low 70s. I don't think the frames were exposed all night. A few hours at most.

Thanks
Shane

 

[Colobee]

'Good question, but there's no certain answer. The colony will normally clear out any brood that doesn't make it. Putting the hive back together and letting them handle it is a reasonable approach. Good luck with the bear.

 

[tsmullins]

The colony will normally clear out any brood that doesn't make it. Putting the hive back together and letting them handle it is a reasonable approach. Good luck with the bear.

From today's inspection, it appears the brood is fine. The bees had not removed any brood that I could detect. There was quite a bit of uncapped larvae that appeared healthy.

On the down side, I could not find the queen. They much more aggressive than normal as well. The bees also seemed to have the queenless "roar". Will order a queen tomorrow.

Shane

 

[biggraham610]

id still be pissed too, getting tossed around during the night, Im sorry about the Bear TS. Im sweating bullets hoping they dont find mine. They make the pilgramage to try and destroy our Sawtooth Oaks every year. Gonna try and have up a fence before the trees show acorns. They havent started to raise their own yet? Maybe you could offer them a frame of notched 3 day larvae and they will rear one for you. Good Luck Buddy. G **** bears:waiting:

 

[tsmullins]

id still be pissed too, getting tossed around during the night, Im sorry about the Bear TS. Im sweating bullets hoping they dont find mine. They make the pilgramage to try and destroy our Sawtooth Oaks every year. Gonna try and have up a fence before the trees show acorns. They havent started to raise their own yet? Maybe you could offer them a frame of notched 3 day larvae and they will rear one for you. Good Luck Buddy. G **** bears:waiting:

Thanks Biggraham,

Do the bears rub the Sawtooth Oaks?

The other hive that was damaged had calmed down. Putting up the bear fence the same day of the attack was no fun.

The more damaged hive had not made any emergency cells. Maybe they did not have any viable eggs. I had considered a frame of eggs, but didn't want to be without the production until the new queen was laying.

I would put up a fence now. Cleaning up after a bear attack is no fun. My hives were fortunate. Our Airedale, Rudy, very likely chased the bear off. Since Rude Dog is mostly an inside dog, we can't count on him everyday.

Shane

 

[biggraham610]

Yeah, Im gonna do it, a buddy of mine lost 4 hives eariler this year. As far as the oaks, we planted them, they provide a major acorn crop bi-yearly and a crop yearly. We planted them for the game, I guess the bears are game, but when mast is down in the woods, they climb our trees and tear off limbs to gorge on the ground. I will try and dig up some destruction photos. We planted 1200, the worst year they probably hit 75. Didnt kill but a few, but still makes alot of work cleaning up and also takes alot from the tree. Good Luck. G

 

[Ravenseye]

My experience is that the brood is generally fine, at least the capped brood. All bets are off if it rained though.