Stolen Hives.

[BKF Admin]

You sometimes here about beekeepers losing hives to rustlers.
Have you had experience of this or know anyone who has ?

I have read that poaching is on the increase and thought that maybe hives could become a target.

 

[Chris B]

We had a case nearby last winter. 3 Nationals in a remote spot. Not my bees thankfully.
I wonder how much it would cost to hide a tracker device on a hive? I bet it's not that costly these days.

 

[Poly Hive]

I lost a nuc one winter. Shrug...

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yes i had five nationals stolen from a group of ten, and had the same thoughts as poly hive about the tracking device bit,they do them for caravans at a place not far from me,must find out more. I removed the five remaining hives,after sitting in a hidden place for most of one night waiting for the b*****ds to come back,no luck,but they would of gone i'm sure.they slid them out through a hedge on a sheet of galvanised.And even now if i ever did find out who stole them,they would not be walking for a considerable time.and again.

 

[mikethebee]

We had a case 25 hives vanished gone disappeared from a site we called rats and rabbets.
We found um completely moved onto another spot behind a hedge across the field I went to the farmer asking if he knew anything. “NO Your bees you should look after um”
SO I picked um up with me young helper and moved um to another area miles away.
About 3 weeks after, I working was at home when me mobile rang and one of the staff Bill started bowling down the phone telling me 25 bloody hives bin pinched. “WHAT!” not another lot I said, “What do mean have we had more then”
I told him what had happened at the rats and rabbits site 3 week earlier, he started to laff serves you right he said. I will explain when we got back home. I was racking me brain who the beekeeper was that would do this pinchin
Well it turned out Bill had moved the bees behind the hedge away from the public’s eye months ago.
The motto of this story is never blame or think the worst till yuh knows.
All the best mike

 

[Chris B]

I have another line of defence too:

Langstroth polyhives not as popular, so also less desirable.

Also my helper thought mixing paints was a good idea. Half the hives ended up pink. I bet nobody nicks them. But if anyone sees pink polys at an auction please let me know.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

It is easly possible to track via gps (mobile phone), but no so easy to hide in a hive.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-IN-1-GPS-PE...14&_trkparms=72:1300|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318


or via

http://www.followus.co.uk/

And using any old mobile phone.

But you could never hide them.

PS Hello to all as my first post.

 

[BKF Admin]

Hi Jim,welcome to the forum.

That ebay link looks like a great toy for boys,not only can you see a map but also the speed distance covered etc.

I want one of those.

If you had kids then you could put one in their car and see what speed they have been doing etc.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

The second link is also good for legaly tracking your kids etc.

There is now way they can not know they are being tracked because every month it sends a txt to their phone (the one being tracked) that they are being tracked and by whom + you need to set it all up from their phone.

I used it as a DIY tracker for my car, but this was before the first ebay link type items where avalible at a bargin price.

It is amazing what you can do with technology ;-)

 

[David P]

That first ebay link is all very well but unlss im reading it wrong, would be no good unless you wanted to know where ya bees had been on their holidays once you got them back.

Quote from product description
"BugGPS is not live tracking. You must wait until the vehicle returns. "




David

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Sorry I posted the wrong link, I will edit above, but also find new link below.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-IN-1-GPS-PE...14&_trkparms=72:1300|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

 

[iombeeman]

white suits

another disadvantage with wearing white bee suits,you can be seen for
miles!has anybody used "smart water" on their hives can`t be seen with the
naked eye,might work, if you can find what you think are your hives.