[AmericasBeekeeper]

Fighting the Rise of Bee Rustlers
http://stories.weather.com/stolenbees

 

[Beeonefarms]

So sad that shooting thieves is frowned upon

 

[Phoebee]

Is it OK to set out bait hives with Africanized bees?

I just pinged my buddy MSimon to see if he thinks he can engineer a $15 solution.

 

[Needo]

So sad that shooting thieves is frowned upon

I bet locking the thieves in a small room with a hive or two, and then play painfully loud music would garner more than a frown.:shhhh:

 

[melliferal]

Well, no, I'm not going to kill someone over a freaking bee hive. I love bees - love them. Especially when it's really cold outsi...err, never mind, forget I said that. Anyway, I really like bees; but not enough to spill blood over them, that's just a disturbing idea if you ask me.

That said, I certainly won't just sit around feeling sorry for myself if someone takes off with half my hives. From what I understand, law enforcement agencies in major agricultural areas are usually very sympathetic to complaints about bee theft and aggressively pursue these cases. But if something happens to me and it turns out that the local sheriff's doesn't take stolen bees as seriously as I think they ought, I will not hesitate to become That Guy, the Crazy Bee Guy, the guy deputies talk about using names that my momma definitely didn't give me.

 

[cnt]

Out of curiosity where is the black market for bee hives? I've never had a shady character come up to me and say "hey--buddy, you looking for some bees? I know a guy that can hook you up."

 

[Cloverdale]

Out of curiosity where is the black market for bee hives? I've never had a shady character come up to me and say "hey--buddy, you looking for some bees? I know a guy that can hook you up."

I think for themselves...I certainly would never accept stolen bee hives and I know nobody on this forum, or any beekeeper for that matter, would buy them...I agree with the 9mm solution, or, the "bait" Africanized bees! What a sight that would bee!

 

[NewbeeInNH]

Hate to say it, but sounds like another good reason not to truck your bees to California...

 

[jrose1970]

This is a good thread.
I had an entire hive stolen. It was just one out of seven sitting right there that was stolen. I think we should put an identifying mark on the frames and the box in an inconspicuous location to help the law identify the bees almost like a brand. A hive is worth $300-$400!

 

[MJC417]

According to the article, it's also those darned hobby beekeepers causing a lot of problems.

 

[BernhardHeuvel]

I am more the traditionalist...

 

[Phoebee]

What I find fascinating is that if somebody recommended inducing the demise of a songbird that was eating bees, a moderator would delete the post. It is, however, OK to talk here about killing SHB and mites. Which evidently means bee rustlers are considered a form of life on par with SHB and other parasites.

 

[Mbeck]

I thought there was some sort of agreement to not let beekeeper like these talk to the media?

"and say that colony collapse disorder is really a case of “piss-poor beekeeping.”

 

[Tim KS]

I thought there was some sort of agreement to not let beekeeper like these talk to the media?

"and say that colony collapse disorder is really a case of “piss-poor beekeeping.”

....and who is most affected by CCD?

 

[melliferal]

Hate to say it, but sounds like another good reason not to truck your bees to California...

There certainly is a whole stack of them isn't there?

 

[Cloverdale]

Ah, Bernard, the pitchfork weapon!

 

[Phoebee]

My nucs were built on almond bees. They won't have to face that ordeal again.

We were on pins and needles waiting for our nucs to arrive, knowing that almond bees were needed to build them. So hearing about all the hive thefts and accidental poisionings was an additional worry. If the particular hives on which our supplier was counting were among the victims, we were likely to be left out in the cold.

I'm sure this happened with some nuc suppliers ... bees they were counting on never arrived, leaving them with disappointed and angry customers, and taking the damage further still. And, of course, bees lost on the almond expedition are unavailable for later crops. Bees stolen and kept in California won't make it back east for apples and blueberries.

 

[Earthboy]

From the article:

"At the same time, backyard beekeeping seems to be growing in popularity, anecdotally at least. The arrival of hobbyists isn’t something that many commercial beekeepers welcome. Some commercial beekeepers actually blame hobbyists for the loss of bees and say that colony collapse disorder is really a case of “piss-poor beekeeping.” Joe Romance, for example, refers to them as “the Birkenstock crowd.”

Wow! "All the bee problems ARE caused by non-commercial beehavers," you claim? Wow!!! I do not know any hobbyist pimping midnight bees. Name one.

 

[BeeGhost]

Which evidently means bee rustlers are considered a form of life on par with SHB and other parasites.

Yup................pretty much. Thieves are nothing more than terrorists. If you are worried about bringing bees to California for almond pollination due to the chance of having your hives stolen........you have been terrorized.

And if you don't want to bring your hives to CA for almonds..........no problem, that just increases the value per hive for us beekeepers here in CA!! Supply and Demand is a wonderful thing.

 

[Tennessee's Bees LLC]

It is a constant thing in the back of ones mind. Frustrating. Branding only does so much. To bad small gps systems are so expensive. If they could be made available at a reasonable cost it would be great.