South Wales theft

[paul]

Stolen from apiary near Cardiff/ Taff's Well:

a colony on 5 DN4 frames and a Thorne's 4" national roof.

Just the frames, roof and bees stolen nothing marked except queen in yellow.

 

[BeeJayBee]

What an evil thing to do.

 

[Lorenz]

barst44dz


Bees will be expensive this season. This bad weather will affect those overwintering nucs worst of all.

I write my phone number on the side and bottom bars of some of my frames - don't reckon it will stop them being nicked, but it might mean if they were sold on, someone honest might ring me and then the perpetrator of the theft could be identified.

 

[Luminos]

Dreadful

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Really sorry to hear this, Paul.

Just nasty.

Hope your other colony is ok.

Dusty

 

[Russel]

Anywhere near this one? South Wales attempted theft

 

[pargyle]

Stolen from apiary near Cardiff/ Taff's Well:

a colony on 5 DN4 frames and a Thorne's 4" national roof.

Just the frames, roof and bees stolen nothing marked except queen in yellow.

There was some pre-planning in this theft then ... they had to come equipped with a national brood box if they took the roof to use or they just dropped them into a 5 frame Nuc and nicked the roof as it was a good 'un ? I think we'll see more of this as the colonies start to build up and we, hopefully, get a bit of warm weather. Time to lock down your out apiaries as much as you can against these thieving SOB's.

 

[VEG]

Sorry to hear you had your bees stolen, what I dont understand is why they didnt take the whole hive in one go rather than go to the trouble of taking the frames out and the roof.

 

[Little John]

I don't get their MO either. Removing frames at this time of year ... ?

The only reason not to pinch the hive body as well is either that it's secured in some way, or if they were short on room - (say) if they only had a small car boot, or were on a motorcycle - but then - why pinch the roof ?

But without doubt, these were were not opportunist thieves who spotted the potential of a quick hive for sale, or a pikey after the metal - this was (pretty obviously) a 'fellow' beekeeper.

A pretty sad state of affairs, and I suggest that it's only going to get worse as the weather reeks it's toll on the national colony count.

LJ

 

[mbc]

motive for leaving the box is obvious, they didnt want to take anything easily recognisable.

 

[paul]

Anywhere near this one? South Wales attempted theft

Yes Russel, very close to that one.

As regards the MO of the theif, the site is pretty inaccessible involving climbing through some rough scrub on a steep hill.
My guess is that, having scoped the site, they knew enough to bring a nuc along for ease of carriage.

The puzzle being that they not only left the majority of the stores but also painstakingly re-assembled the hive consisting of a super of stores, broodbox, eke with fondant, crownboard and an eke with insulation.

The irony of the situation is that, so far in my beekeeping career, I have given away at least one colony each season to someone in need.

So far, two other colonies on the site remain intact. Here's hoping they remain so.

 

[Russel]

Yes Russel, very close to that one.

As regards the MO of the theif, the site is pretty inaccessible involving climbing through some rough scrub on a steep hill.
My guess is that, having scoped the site, they knew enough to bring a nuc along for ease of carriage.

The puzzle being that they not only left the majority of the stores but also painstakingly re-assembled the hive consisting of a super of stores, broodbox, eke with fondant, crownboard and an eke with insulation.

The irony of the situation is that, so far in my beekeeping career, I have given away at least one colony each season to someone in need.

So far, two other colonies on the site remain intact. Here's hoping they remain so.

Hi Paul , do you have an alternative safer site?
From several previous posts the lower A470 and adjacent valleys seem to be riff with bee thefts at this time of year?

From your description of how they left everything "as was" they went "tooled up", or if not got stung into the bargain, indicating they may well have been beeks!

I have found favors and good deeds can sometimes bite you on the @rse, and the bee keeping community is made up of all sorts including some rum ones!

Russ

 

[DarynWebb]

again on my front door, hope someone saw him/her!