Stolen Hives

B+. said:

My local church had the lead stolen from the porch roof despite large signs posted in the window that magic water was used to identify church property. I wonder if they meant holy water.

Click to expand...

Signs assume they can be seen, read or give a Shyte. Maybe not a good example but...

Gilberdyke John said:

Does magic water survive the lead being melted?

Click to expand...

I have no idea. I doubt it. I was just wondering if it could be used on queens

Lucky Bee said:

All my hives were stolen this morning from a farm just outside Hungerford. A very professional job, whole site cleared. The hives had the Arnia hive monitoring systems in so I got theft alerts at 6.38 am. By the time we saw the alerts and got there everything was gone. Devastated!

Click to expand...

sorry to hear that seems to be quite a lot of that going on over there, only heard of three over here in forty five years. hope I don't regret these words about to move into a new site twenty five miles away. good luck to you, hope you get the p***kes who took them.

B+. said:

My local church had the lead stolen from the porch roof despite large signs posted in the window that magic water was used to identify church property. I wonder if they meant holy water.

Click to expand...

you mean Smartwater.

I've been in touch with the manufactures of Smartwater and they tell me that is suitable to mark beehives with it, although they advise to mark underneath the hive, away from the bees as the fluorescence in the liquid MAY have an effect on the bees.
It identifies your items, it identifies the culprit and anyone else that chooses to buy/handle them. That should get some of the of the scum.
Has anyone had any experience of this product?
I can't add the link as my post count is less than 10..... just Google smartwater etc..

of course they are going to say it's suitable - more sales for them. But what's the point, most thieves will just put the bees on new kit and burn the stuff they stole.

Lucky Bee said:

All my hives were stolen this morning from a farm just outside Hungerford. A very professional job, whole site cleared. The hives had the Arnia hive monitoring systems in so I got theft alerts at 6.38 am. By the time we saw the alerts and got there everything was gone. Devastated!

Click to expand...

I can probably help out restock next year with a swarm or two if it would help get you going again?

JBM is right.

Labelling might deter a causal thief but somebody who's taken time to plan will move the bees into new equipment asap so that nothing is traceable.

ratty4moley said:

I've been in touch with the manufactures of Smartwater and they tell me that is suitable to mark beehives with it, although they advise to mark underneath the hive, away from the bees as the fluorescence in the liquid MAY have an effect on the bees.

Click to expand...

Our local plod suggests just using a UV pen which can be bought from most stationers for a couple of quid, and acknowledge that actually tracing stolen bees would be extremely difficult.

Some of the 'smart' water markers contain DNA from an unidentified source, would you put that anywhere near animals of any sort let alone something that produces food?

BeeJayBee said:

JBM is right.

Labelling might deter a casual thief but somebody who's taken time to plan will move the bees into new equipment asap so that nothing is traceable.

Our local plod suggests just using a UV pen which can be bought from most stationers for a couple of quid, and acknowledge that actually tracing stolen bees would be extremely difficult.

Some of the 'smart' water markers contain DNA from an unidentified source, would you put that anywhere near animals of any sort let alone something that produces food?

Click to expand...

Surely better to have your marking visible for instant recognition, should the chance arise. Burn your postcode into the wood/poly with a soldering iron (or custom branding iron).

It may deter a casual thief, and, with lots of luck, someone may question the postcode if they see the determined pro transferring bees. (Yes, unlikely I know but there's always a remote hope...).

If I had an isolated apiary, I would fit a concealed trail camera so it could photograph number plates etc...

Are your hives marked in any way, to aid recovery? You could ask the local bee inspectors to keep an eye out for frames etc branded with your mark...

If the thieves took the Arnia kit too, perhaps the manufacturer can suggest something.

I would definitely report it to the police. Who knows, they may have CCTV or numberplate recognition cameras covering the route there.

madasafish said:

If I had an isolated apiary, I would fit a concealed trail camera so it could photograph number plates etc...

Click to expand...

And a note on the crownboard asking whether they remembered to smile when the photographs of them and their vehicle were taken