Importation of bees

[Erichalfbee]

Looks as if we know who it was now.......could have been mines that were stolen. Would have been a little earner for us but one that was pretty inconvenient too and would have impinged on our other operations. Glad we did not end up doing it now....

Well I never!
A strange thought has now entered my head.... I best not say though.

 

[Mint Bee]

has anyone ever been convicted of stealing bee hives?
(in the UK?)

 

[Erichalfbee]

has anyone ever been convicted of stealing bee hives?
(in the UK?)

I’m sure the thief who stole bees from @oliver90owner was prosecuted. That was some years ago.

Edit
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threa...s-regarding-uk-hive-thefts.42180/#post-629973

 

[rolande]

has anyone ever been convicted of stealing bee hives?
(in the UK?)

Ron Brown recorded such a conviction. In his writings but I can't remember where so don't have a link

 

[Niv]

Smashed not Mashed. Get with the times.
I love avocado on toast with a lovely poached egg on top and slices of fried chorizo and/or black pudding.

That should help to give it some taste

 

[Nige.Coll]

This year a lady had the bees taken out of 3 hives 5 miles away from me.
They took the cluster out of the boxes on the frames, guessing they transferred them to a nuc.
Her apiary was well hidden and no public access anywhere near it, she has no idea how they knew it was there.
She was left with a nuc. The other 3 hives have no queen and only a few bees in.
Poor woman is heartbroken.

 

[Ian123]

This year a lady had the bees taken out of 3 hives 5 miles away from me.
They took the cluster out of the boxes on the frames, guessing they transferred them to a nuc.
Her apiary was well hidden and no public access anywhere near it, she has no idea how they knew it was there.
She was left with a nuc. The other 3 hives have no queen and only a few bees in.
Poor woman is heartbroken.

Has she got some more bees sorted.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Smashed not Mashed. Get with the times.
I love avocado on toast with a lovely poached egg on top and slices of fried chorizo and/or black pudding.

That should help to give it some taste

That and a good slathering of HP sauce to complement the black pudding,
maybe a slice or two of decent dry cured bacon as well?
and a few mushrooms?
of course frying the eggs might be preferable than poaching them
In fact, no need for the avocado at all - ample vegetable matter there with the 'shrooms

 

[Nige.Coll]

Has she got some more bees sorted.

Not yet. I don't know the lady personally.
She is worried about them coming back again.

 

[Ian123]

Not yet. I don't know the lady personally.
She is worried about them coming back again.

Your profile doesn’t give your location, if you think she’ll struggle to start up again drop me a mail, if location works I’ll have a nuc for her FOC

 

[ericbeaumont]

She is worried about them coming back again.

Valid worry; only answer is to abandon the apiary.

 

[Norton]

Obvious answer for theft and vandalism is a trail camera.
It worked for me, they destroyed the camera only to be photographed by a second one.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

They tried that at a local prison and both cameras disappeared!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Obvious answer for theft and vandalism is a trail camera.
It worked for me, they destroyed the camera only to be photographed by a second one.

Sounds like a job for long range lenses. The system at a local playing field has a camera covering the gate from about 60 metres away. The scrotes dont even know it's there

 

[Murox]

Obvious answer for theft and vandalism is a trail camera.
It worked for me, they destroyed the camera only to be photographed by a second one.

Yup , multiple layers of security with some sacrificial equipment, could even be dummies.

 

[Norton]

I believe the message has been circulated that the apiaries are covered by cameras.
The culprits denied everything until we sent them an email with their photographs.
They came here within 10 minutes begging us not to report it to the police and paid cash for the damage they had done.

 

[HughMann]

This year a lady had the bees taken out of 3 hives 5 miles away from me.
They took the cluster out of the boxes on the frames, guessing they transferred them to a nuc.
Her apiary was well hidden and no public access anywhere near it, she has no idea how they knew it was there.
She was left with a nuc. The other 3 hives have no queen and only a few bees in.
Poor woman is heartbroken.

There is one database that lists all the addresses of beekeepers that trust databases. Sure its secure?
Beebase states "......while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk"

 

[bobba]

I have a question that I've never found a definitive answer to. Why do we import bees at all? My bees swarm quite happily and there is always an abundance of queen cells left over when her majesty has left. One of my hives in particular has shedloads of bees in the height of summer, biggest colony I've ever seen and requires four supers on just to have enough room for the bees themselves (and strangely has never swarmed). What is so special about Italian bees?

I dont think it is nessaserily the "Quality" that makes them desirable. Its the fact they are ahead of us in the season, so Italian queens will ususly be avalible sooner in the year than english queens.

 

[drdrday]

I have 'THIS HIVE IS ALARMED' on the roof of each of my hives, and use little window shock alarms rigged on the stands that go off when the straps are undone. Hopefully that would be enough to at least spook anyone - even if the idea of messing with a hive of alarmed bees wasn't enough

 

[Apple]

I dont think it is nessaserily the "Quality" that makes them desirable. Its the fact they are ahead of us in the season, so Italian queens will ususly be avalible sooner in the year than english queens.

From my own experience of imported queens they are no better than anything produced in the UK
Which is why a lot of pro beekeepers overwinter nucs to make up for losses.