Are these beekeepers out of order?

[psafloyd]

Base on the fact 15 hives were placed 100 yards away and they are currently robbing his hives.

Or do you think that would have no impact?

It may well be influential, but there isn't a nailed on correlation.

 

[psafloyd]

I've seen the picture, they are lined up against the fence facing the fruit. It is pretty blatant.

Well, that's OK, then. Get the guy to take some pics of the robbing bees and you'll probably be able to identify them conclusively.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The other guy just appears to be that sort of obnoxious person you run into sometimes.

The world is full of them
You have to rise above it

 

[SDM]

I've had something similar happen, people turned up at an out Apiary asking to place bees , were told there was a Beekeeper already and then placed 30 200m away . Last year not a frame of honey from 10 hives, this year 25lb/hive compared to an average of over 100lb for my other 25 colonies.
I've got no issues with the other Beekeeper, but it's not something I would do. I've found out there was already hives at several sites and just moved on. I'll stay there in the hope they get bored tending 30 hives for little reward .

 

[peteinwilts]

on most good sites, an additional 15 hives is neither here nor there.

the positioning makes me think...

if the hives are facing south, why would someone want to put them behind a fence. They would be better at least a few feet from the fence, or in a different orientation.

Whether the bees are a few yards from the fence, or a hundred yards from the fence, it makes little difference.

if your friends hives are being robbed, then the entrances should be closed down (against wasps too) to suit the size of the colony, particularly at this time of year.

This would be no different as having a large colony in an apiary with a handful of fed NUC's. If the doors are too big, the large colony will try and rob the NUC's.
Bees will not rob colonys because they belong to someone else.

A lot of people are having poor results this half of the summer. After July, my honey crop has plummeted.

your friend wants to lighten up and be a little less territorial (very common amongst beekeepers).
Try and talk to the semi-commercial, and try and be good neighbours..

 

[Beefriendly]

Happens a lot when good forage is around. People get greedy and try all sorts of tricks, like the kind gentlemen who has his bee hives on old caravan trailers and has dumped them at the only turning space on the field margin. Felt like hitching them back up and moving them...but nahh not worth the hassle.

 

[Zante]

I'm planning to do something similar next year, but not in an obnoxious way.

I'll be asking the local church if i can put two hives on their grounds. I've recently been told though that someone has 20 hives about 100 meters away.
There is plenty of forage through (hills of woodland, there is plenty of black locust, lime and horse chestnut, and plenty of countryside) and 2 hives aren't going to make much of a difference in this case.

I'd sure be thinking twice about doing it if I was planning on placing ten though

 

[Erichalfbee]

When I lived in Cumbria I put three hives in a neighbour's field. A week later a bait hive popped up on a dry stone wall bounding the field ....some fifty yards away. I closed the entrance and it was duly opened again a few days later. This happened three times then the box disappeared.

 

[B+.]

People get greedy

Doesn't this say it all?
I remember being told that beekeepers are nice people who respect each other and wouldn't do the sort of things people have spoken of here. What happened? It's not enough to say you get such people in every walk of life. There is something fundamentally wrong when someone thinks it's ok to trespass on someone's area or try to steal their bees in a "bait hive". Such predatory behavior isn't nice!

 

[Millet]

When I lived in Cumbria I put three hives in a neighbour's field. A week later a bait hive popped up on a dry stone wall bounding the field ....some fifty yards away. I closed the entrance and it was duly opened again a few days later. This happened three times then the box disappeared.

Don't admit to anything , that could of been my bait hive and if i caught you messing with it i may well have lashed you within a inch of your life..

 

[Millet]

Doesn't this say it all?
!

People are greedy... i believe So.

 

[Eyeman]

Doesn't this say it all?
I remember being told that beekeepers are nice people who respect each other and wouldn't do the sort of things people have spoken of here. What happened? It's not enough to say you get such people in every walk of life. There is something fundamentally wrong when someone thinks it's ok to trespass on someone's area or try to steal their bees in a "bait hive". Such predatory behavior isn't nice!

You've only heard one side of the story- second hand. Probably get a completely different story from the commercial guy.

 

[pargyle]

Life is too short ... it's unfortunate ... it's unpleasant and it's annoying ...but nobody has died - get over it and move on. What comes around goes around .. the other beekeeper will get his come uppance from somewhere at sometime.

 

[betterbee]

found its best not to boast about honey yields at club meetings your site can be swamped with hives before you know it ,not bad manners just greed

 

[SDM]

When I lived in Cumbria I put three hives in a neighbour's field. A week later a bait hive popped up on a dry stone wall bounding the field ....some fifty yards away. I closed the entrance and it was duly opened again a few days later. This happened three times then the box disappeared.

You could be easily prosecuted for criminal damage.

 

[kevrhcfag]

I would just bite the bullet for a season and open feed on a daily basis. Might cost a few bob in sugar but he might get the hint.

 

[Stiffy]

Life is too short ... it's unfortunate ... it's unpleasant and it's annoying ...but nobody has died - get over it and move on. What comes around goes around .. the other beekeeper will get his come uppance from somewhere at sometime.

don't agree with what was done but hardly crime the century!
S

 

[Gilberdyke John]

If the hive fronts are as close to the fence as it seems from your description I'd be tempted, when the wind was in the right direction, spray the fence line, on your side with a good insecticide (not saying I would but tempted)
Wingy

Bee quick perhaps

 

[JWF]

You could be easily prosecuted for criminal damage.

Criminal damage? For closing a nuc entrance? What damage was caused exactly?

 

[Erichalfbee]

You could be easily prosecuted for criminal damage.

Only if Millet was watching

How about trespass on my neighbour's wall?