Ink stamp

[nonstandard]

I have just read HP's thread regarding his stolen frames and hives, It set me off thinking about marking frames and other wooden equipment.

Would it be feasible to have a rubber ink stamp made up with say ones home postcode and stamp all the top bars? You could always go the whole hog and have a date stamp too to see how old your frames are.

 

[psafloyd]

That is not a bad idea.

 

[Mike a]

I started off marking my frames with an indelible marker pen, but gave up after a year. The trouble is if your hives with colonies are stolen the chances of finding them again is remote. As for dates I keep hive records so I know when I last shook swarmed them and no frame in any of my hives is more than 3 years old.

Each to their own though and good advise.

 

[nonstandard]

I started off marking my frames with an indelible marker pen, but gave up after a year. The trouble is if your hives with colonies are stolen the chances of finding them again is remote. As for dates I keep hive records so I know when I last shook swarmed them and no frame in any of my hives is more than 3 years old.

Each to their own though and good advise.

I appreciate your comments but in my limited experience, should the thief be investigated for other issues the fact that they have property in their possession clearly marked with someone else's postcode would pique the interest of the police. Our local crime investigation officers suggest using smartwater on hives with appropriate signage. I do wonder if the signs alone would help deter the pro's without the expense of buying the smartwater.

Regarding the frame age, at least you could easily spot the 3 yr old ones

 

[Friar Tuck]

Sandpaper would easy remove an ink stamp... i use a shotgun to defend my hives.

 

[RoofTops]

Marking frames with a pen to show the date can be useful and you can add your initials as well if you want to show some sort of ownership. However, a thief won't see any of this until they get the hive home so the best deterrent is probably branding the side of the hive (wooden ones of course) with some sort of distinctive mark.

You could also try putting up a sign to say the hives have been "chipped". This might help deter thieves but the best solution as always is to keep them out of sight and avoid attracting attention to them.

You could also try painting them distinctive colours.

 

[MuswellMetro]

i burn my name with a barBque brander into all boxes and also type of box ,makes it easier to see whats in a ten high stack of mixed boxes

also type of frame fixing " C" for casterlation "R" for runner

on Frames i burn my name and mark the year used in pen

Very necessasry as i extract in an association apairy and often lend bits to a beginner etc, you know, they swear blind they bought that super from Th**nes and it theirs and you yourself know its one of Tom Bick's supers as it 100% better that a Th**nes one

 

[barratt_sab]

I looked at BBQ branding irons, but couldn't find one with numbers as well as letters (I wanted to include a post code). MM, does yours have numbers?

 

[MuswellMetro]

I looked at BBQ branding irons, but couldn't find one with numbers as well as letters (I wanted to include a post code). MM, does yours have numbers?

NO, it is probably the one you found, which is why only my name burnt on frames and date in pen, This type but from UK

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Norpro-Barbec...930?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35a3cb56d2

 

[barratt_sab]

Yes - that looks the same as the one I found. Judging by your photo, it looks like it works pretty well though.

Thanks

 

[victor meldrew]

I appreciate your comments but in my limited experience, should the thief be investigated for other issues the fact that they have property in their possession clearly marked with someone else's postcode would pique the interest of the police. Our local crime investigation officers suggest using smartwater on hives with appropriate signage. I do wonder if the signs alone would help deter the pro's without the expense of buying the smartwater.

Regarding the frame age, at least you could easily spot the 3 yr old ones

Attempted murder won't pique the interest of our local police
This observation is from personal experience!

John W.

 

[Headnavigator]

Police here offer Smartwater FOC, might consider marking the queens as well as all hive components and other equipment. (Alright, only joking re queens before anyone gets in a lather!)

 

[isc26]

You could try using a woodburning kit (bit like a soldering iron). Used one on my hives to add postcode.

 

[hedgerow pete]

sorry people but i dont see what use smart water or uv pens are going to do for you. Are you realy expecting the police to investigat a bee hive thieft,

as someone that has had it happend three times you are realy wasting your time.

 

[isc26]

I think it's called a deterant. Cos you put a big label on it saying its marked and then its less valuable cos people can't offload it as easily.

 

[Michaelf]

Going back to using ink to mark frames.
What if you were to make a nuc up with your marked frames and then sold the nuc?

Michael

 

[Hombre]

Michael,
If you bought a nuc from me with my name stamped on the frames, what do you really think would happen? You can't really be a totally blank canvas on this question . . .

Would you expect me to give you a receipt or some other documentation to show that you had received the nuc lawfully, for example?

Bee farmers typically buy up stocks of bees and hives from other bee farmers and the boxes carry the original brands. The seller will usually know who bought the boxes, but obviously after many years they could have changed hands several times.

Basically any equipment with another's name on it might at some point in it's life need to have it's history explained, but I suspect that it is probably a rare thing, other than in idle conversation.

An awful lot of nucs change hands.

 

[Michaelf]

Yea was a stupid question really

 

[hedgerow pete]

no i dont think it is.

ok so i dont see the point in smart water or uv pens because i cant see who has the equipment to go around and check every thing. micro chips and animals spring to mind, untill the vets routeanly check every single animal its a waste of time as your chipped dog can go through a dozen hands before its found by accident.

where as i think branding irons used inside or out are a brilliant detterant. any thing that is big and bold and visable is great as it does make them thing twice.

and while i do aggree with hombres posting about the frames changing hands many times over, which they do!

I make a point of after buying a five framed nuc to change the frames over as soon as possible to my frames, and then the used nuc frames are the ones used or given back to a nuc breeder, when as most do we swap five empty frames and nuc box and some sheckels for a full nuc box and full frames.

the marker pen i use is a black marker pen but it has a liquid inside it rather than the wet fibre tube. it lays down much more ink into the timber,

or just just a coloured wood stain on each part of your frames is the way this year i am going to go, there are four sides to a frame and each one is going to get dipped into a differant colour stain.

and no i make it a policy never to allow a hedgerow frame to leave my possession. if and when i do , do nuc breading i always use plain un marked standard frames.

to deter thieft and to remove the markets for stolen good we as a whole have to remove the market for them. by doing my little bit of marking my frames individualy and making sure my marked frames stay with me and selling nucs on plain frames allows me to play my part

 

[Headnavigator]

sorry people but i dont see what use smart water or uv pens are going to do for you.

The advantage of Smartwater is not only as a deterrent - if the miscreant is picked up for anything else over quite a long period of time the Smartwater contamination will show up on him/her. Even a single Smartwater particle will lead back to your postcode and if you have reported the theft, 2+2=4, the police can manage that!
If they're a regular tea-leaf they'll probably go through the revolving door of the nick quite frequently, and this will be good sound evidence for once.

It's better than just holding one's hands up in despair and saying there's nowt we can do.