Attack On Member of Public

[Brian Bush]

I have an apiary on a very quiet country lane. I has been there for 7 years.
The bees are behind a thick 10ft hedge and cannot be seen from the road at this time of year. They are close to the lane and the nearest hive is about 15 ft from the entrance.
Saturday I opened the hive to do an inspection. All was going well until suddenly the bees boiled out of the hive, covered be and one managed to sting my nose through the veil. I now look like I could win any guerning contest.
I reassembled the hive and retreated to the lane to brush as many bees as possible off. I then got in the car, all windows open and drove 300 odd yards to stop, remove the veil and treat the sting.
As I say this is a quiet lane but one of the neighbours was walking her dog and was attacked by several angry bees. The local flower grower, a former beekeeper, came to her aid, removed the bees from her hair and says she was stung 2 or 3 times.
My landlord received a phone call on Saturday evening claiming I was negligent, I should have warned her instead of driving off. There should be warning signs etc etc.she was stung in excess of 10 times and if the bees are not moved she is calling the police etc etc.
I have spoken to the BBKA who provided me with this little snippet
'once a bees is outside a hive they are no longer under anyone's ownership'
I have relayed this to my landlord but we cannot reach an amicable solution. My Landlord does not want the bees to go, and I don't want to move 7 large hives.
My other landlord has suggested I tell her the bees are staying and she should move, a good thought but not very useful. My chairman is willing to help and suggests sweetening her with honey but she is implacable and determined to make trouble. Does anyone know a hitman???

 

[Anduril]

Does anyone know a hitman???

I know your statement is said in jest, but you are opening yourself up to a police sting.

 

[enrico]

Half a dozen jars of honey and a promise of the same every year along with an apology and explanation that this is very rare.
We had a similar situation where the bee inspector opened a hive having been told that the bees were stroppy and a schoolchild got stung. All worked out in the end as his dad got interested in bees and they thought the honey was gorgeous.
It happens. I am waiting for my neighbour to get stung, despite warnings, every time I open my bees he appears in shirts and t shirt on the other side of the hedge wanting a chat!
Bees don't bother me he says.........
We will see!
E

 

[Fatbee]

If I was bitten by a dog off the lead I would not be best pleased so I take similar viewpoint from managing bees - I have put them there and if people do get stung whilst going about their business I would take some responsibility.

Like the previous post, an apology, offer of honey is best in first instance whilst she is angry.

 

[domino]

Just pop around and say sorry. Hopefully they are just angry because of the shock it.

If they carry on and the land owner doesn't care I'd just ignore it.

 

[nantmoel]

If I was bitten by a dog off the lead I would not be best pleased so I take similar viewpoint from managing bees - I have put them there and if people do get stung whilst going about their business I would take some responsibility.

Like the previous post, an apology, offer of honey is best in first instance whilst she is angry.

I was bitten by a dog on a lead! Because I didn't want to prosecute the owner he's still around and even escapes to freely run around! Imagine how I feel, I report it to the police every time I see him escaped and off his lead, they just go and talk to the owner simply because I got a crime number.

But back to the problem, I would go and talk to the lady who got stung and if this is the first time its happened and try and explain it was a one off. Why were they so nasty? Do they need to be re-queened? I'm done with nasty bees, I can work all ours in the apiary I have here without smoke and gloves. I've had nasty bees but no more!

 

[Uncle Betty]

A quick Google...

http://www.beekeeping.org.uk/bee_law.pdf

 

[Plenty of honey]

It was a one off and how often would it happen?. She obviously ok, not very pleasant for her, but it could be any lane in any part of the country. I hope you dont get asked to move because its a storm in a teacup really.
The problem is , people who get bees in their hair just prance around screeching, , making matters a lot worse. If they knew they should just go in for the kill the second they hear one in their hair, the chances of getting stung are greatly reduced.


I actually feel very supportive of your post because only 2 days ago, where i keep my bees in a small disused quarry, the land owner drove past, waved at me through the car as we were under full attack from very cranky bees. Then she goes in to her garden, some 30 meters away, and i see her dancing around and screeching, the nailed her for sure,. about 5 stings. she said "they were chasing me" yup, I replied, "its what bees do" she asked me if i could come over and take out the stings, well the cloud around me would have finished her off for sure!!
as much as i am sympathetic, i am not, not when i was seen working bees,
well a little off topic re your post but same thing really!!
however i love the apiary and i feel the same as you do. There is no need to remove your bees just because of 1 incident.

 

[B+.]

My landlord received a phone call on Saturday evening claiming I was negligent, I should have warned her instead of driving off. There should be warning signs etc etc.she was stung in excess of 10 times and if the bees are not moved she is calling the police etc etc.

Ok. She is upset and I can understand why. There she was, walking her dog on a quiet country lane then, all of a sudden, she is attacked by your bees. Think how this story sounds to anyone she might tell it to. Your reputation would be in tatters.
Whats worse, now that it has happened once, imagine how it looks if it happens again. You can't argue that it was unpredictable.
The point I am trying to make is that its much better to placate her than try to argue the law with her. You'll never win (even if you do). In the end, people are only too quick to believe the worst.
If she is the sort of person who might be persuaded to "be reasonable", I would urge you to do everything you can to encourage her to see things your way. Use whatever "sweetener" you feel is necessary

 

[Stiffy]

I sympathise but now she has been stung you need to take immediate remedial action. I had a site close to a footpath and someone got stung and complained. I moved the bees away from the path and far enough away for passers by not to even now they are there. My reasoning, the next time it happened, and it will, someone might have a bad reaction. How would I feel then, yep I could argue it wasn't my bees but that wouldn't help anything.
My advice: screen them, move them but do something. Maybe putting up warning signs would be enough and would at least give them an option
S

 

[Somerford]

The question has to also be - if you hadn't been there and she'd been stung by bees who were angry or whatever, would she have put 2 and 2 together and claimed it was the bees from hives locally or just the fact she got stung by bees while out walking ?

I never used to have a problem with a neighbour (actually my parent's neighbour) when I was a lad yet one day they literally stuck their head over a fence they would have needed to stand on steps to see over for no reason than to have a good nose at what my Father was up to that day and they spotted the hives - then suddenly they were getting stung and the bee poo was staining their washing and all sorts.

I don't think you ought to move the bees.

Apologise as you have. Offer honey. Be aware next time but these things happen !

KR

S

 

[Tremyfro]

Let's face it...bees are everywhere...all the time. So are wasps, hornets, ants or whatever. If you go outside...you take a risk...a small risk...that you may get stung. Could be any bee...though it could be one from your hives. Bees are wild...like flies. Once out of the hive you have no control of them. Even if you move the hives...she may get stung again...by a bee from somewhere else. Everyone is taking the same risk...even people with known allergy are taking a risk. If you have colonies...your risk is greater. If you are a pest controller...your risk is greater.
If you keep bees near a roadway/ pathway that the public use...I do think it fair that you move any known nasty colonies as far as possible away from the danger zone.....or requeen them ...just so that when you are disturbing them by doing inspections...you reduce the chances of unprepared folk getting stung.
I suspect that if she hadn't known you had bees there...she would have just accepted that she got stung whilst outside.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Brian

I think with hindsight that you might be thinking that you should have stayed around until the bees returned to their hive but I can understand after escaping without stings yourself that you might not having been thinking too far ahead. This episode will certainly make me think a bit longer term if I experience anything similar.

I know when we had a similar eruption of bees at our association apiary, we all thought we had done well to escape without stings but during tea and cake later, the bees flew over to even the score and a couple of us were stung before we could get the veils over.

As to what you can now do, the suggestions above seem good - honey, sweet words, apologies, etc. You might also say that you're killed the queen and will be replacing her - the lady might feel a bit guilty about that and may soften her attitude.

CVB

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

Something similar happened a few weeks ago, Normally quite stocks were like ninja warriors and were attacking like dive bombers, One hive had been completely covered in sand which blocked the entrance, turned out a group of lads had been caught by the farmer kicking and bricking the hives a few days before. These lads just happened to come for a look as I opened the second hive and all hell broke loose. Fortunately no complaints have been received even though they were trespassing but the hives have been moved to another field just in case.

 

[Brian Bush]

Thanks for all the advice and comments.
I had a long session with my landlady yesterday and we have reached a compromise, I hope.
The victim of the stings is well known to my landlady and the first phone call on Saturday was to ask a favour the stinging was a secondary moan. At some time in the evening someone else encouraged her to make a fuss and she rang NHS111 for advice on bee stings. They covered all their bases and told her all the possible problems that may occur. My landlady had cycled round with a jar of honey and all the apologies earlier and said that I would call and apologies. She was told there was no need as she had made her point.
Sunday she sent this vitriolic e-mail, asked my landlady to keep an eye on her husbands carers and went away for a week.
I have been offered another small site and have agreed with my landlady, reluctantly on her part as she wants the bees to stay, that the 3 hives closest to the gateway will be moved. This means that you would now have to enter the site to even see a hive. We are also putting a sign in the apiary that says honey bees at work. I now have to find another beek with suitable transport to move 3 double 14X12 brood and 2 or 3 supers at dusk or dawn this week. The only friends with suitable transport cannot physically lift the hives due to age. I will have to coerce another club member to help.
And I thought that when I retired life was going to be calm, filled with the gentle buzzing of bees and there would be peace in my little world!! Oh well dream on !!!!

 

[Anduril]

A few years ago I came home after being stung in the neck, probably straight into a vein. I had hives all over my body, eyes sensitive to sunlight and heart racing. My wife was concerned and dialled 999. They told her a nurse would ring back. When the nurse rang she spoke to me to find out how coherent I was. Her comments to me were you're still alive after half an hour, nothing to worry about, take some antihistamine. Now I hardly have any reaction to stings.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

It could be argued that you buggered off, safe in your bee suit, knowing that a bad colony was out to cause trouble. Despite whatever the law states, we owe a duty of care to our neighbours. Did you check to see if there was anyone about and whether someone was walking down the path? Was it an out apiary where the 'bad tempered lot' were put?

The best cause of action when bees get in your hair is to slap them to kill them or they just struggle and panic and then sting you and die anyway.

It would be reasonable to move the troublesome colony and explain that bad tempered bees do happen on rare occasions and they have been moved out of the way and that they will be requeened as soon as possible.
The problem with a sign is that it could alert those that are unaware of the bees being present. They might poke the hives with a stick for 'fun' or steal them. A heads you lose tails you lose decision possibly