Beehive security

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thieves often return to the site of past successes.

look at Westminster!

 

[madasafish]

look at Westminster!

? I said successes.. currently utter failures...
(Apologies for those who think the Government are doing a good job )

 

[Wilco]

? I said successes.. currently utter failures...
(Apologies for those who think the Government are doing a good job )

Bigger question is whether there's a better option. I'm doubtful.

 

[pargyle]

Probably best stop now - the cupboard under the stairs door is ajar ....

 

[Sutty]

Several threads on here with various security ideas.
One of the best was cast concrete floors embedded in the ground - even several in one piece.
Sadly they can all be circumvented - eg come back with floors or just a sack.
I'd find another site.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Probably best stop now - the cupboard under the stairs door is ajar ....

I wonder why it has to be discussed for potential thieves to read in the first place. Surely if you need hive security ( apart from locating it somewhere safe) the bees are in the wrong place.

 

[ericbeaumont]

who is stealing them and who is buying them

Beekeepers; nobody without experience would go near them.

I've had bees on an allotment for 15 years and the first theft was in 2023: three hives were opened and put back together, but one top super was empty. My guess is that they checked a few until they found a suitable box of honey, took it away, cut out the comb, and put the box back on. At least the job was neat, as I use unwired cut-comb foundation; intererfence was obvious as the boxes were misaligned.

As it was an inside job, a trail camera will be waiting when the boxes begin to fill this summer. Worked a few years ago when produce was disappearing from plots, and a plotholder was seen in the evenings walking in areas where he had no business. I nearly caught him red-handed: as he came up a path a plastic bag disappeared into his pocket; when I checked the plot, a yard of someone's coriander had been freshly cut. When the camera trapped him later that summer, he was shown the photos and evicted.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Beekeepers; nobody without experience would go near them.

I've had bees on an allotment for 15 years and the first theft was in 2023: three hives were opened and put back together, but one top super was empty. My guess is that they checked a few until they found a suitable box of honey, took it away, cut out the comb, and put the box back on. At least the job was neat, as I use unwired cut-comb foundation; intererfence was obvious as the boxes were misaligned.

As it was an inside job, a trail camera will be waiting when the boxes begin to fill this summer. Worked a few years ago when produce was disappearing from plots, and a plotholder was seen in the evenings walking in areas where he had no business. I nearly caught him red-handed: as he came up a path a plastic bag disappeared into his pocket; when I checked the plot, a yard of someone's coriander had been freshly cut. When the camera trapped him later that summer, he was shown the photos and evicted.

What a good tale ……. And a lovely sting to it.
Well done.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Well done

Not yet, Dani, the honey thief is yet to be caught; the story related to a general veg thief. I'll update the honey story in due course; hope they return and can be evicted, because otherwise I'll have to put a camera up every year.

The allotment has steel gates at both entrances, and both exits are covered by cameras and with restricted access, so an inside job it was.

 

[Sutty]

(Apologies for those who think the Government are doing a good job )

You should probably apologise to both of them!

 

[Dekzion]

Years ago when my brother -in - law and I took our bees to the osr we put in a ground anchor under the hives with a ten foot length of thin core rope covered with long grass attached to the bottom of the hive. the idea was that they'd start to leg it with the hive only to come to an immediate stop! okay there would be a pile of boxes and bees but we'd rather that than let them get away with them!