Beehive security

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thieves often return to the site of past successes.

look at Westminster!

 

[madasafish]

look at Westminster!

? I said successes.. currently utter failures...
(Apologies for those who think the Government are doing a good job )

 

[Wilco]

? I said successes.. currently utter failures...
(Apologies for those who think the Government are doing a good job )

Bigger question is whether there's a better option. I'm doubtful.

 

[pargyle]

Probably best stop now - the cupboard under the stairs door is ajar ....

 

[Sutty]

Several threads on here with various security ideas.
One of the best was cast concrete floors embedded in the ground - even several in one piece.
Sadly they can all be circumvented - eg come back with floors or just a sack.
I'd find another site.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Probably best stop now - the cupboard under the stairs door is ajar ....

I wonder why it has to be discussed for potential thieves to read in the first place. Surely if you need hive security ( apart from locating it somewhere safe) the bees are in the wrong place.

 

[ericbeaumont]

who is stealing them and who is buying them

Beekeepers; nobody without experience would go near them.

I've had bees on an allotment for 15 years and the first theft was in 2023: three hives were opened and put back together, but one top super was empty. My guess is that they checked a few until they found a suitable box of honey, took it away, cut out the comb, and put the box back on. At least the job was neat, as I use unwired cut-comb foundation; intererfence was obvious as the boxes were misaligned.

As it was an inside job, a trail camera will be waiting when the boxes begin to fill this summer. Worked a few years ago when produce was disappearing from plots, and a plotholder was seen in the evenings walking in areas where he had no business. I nearly caught him red-handed: as he came up a path a plastic bag disappeared into his pocket; when I checked the plot, a yard of someone's coriander had been freshly cut. When the camera trapped him later that summer, he was shown the photos and evicted.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Beekeepers; nobody without experience would go near them.

I've had bees on an allotment for 15 years and the first theft was in 2023: three hives were opened and put back together, but one top super was empty. My guess is that they checked a few until they found a suitable box of honey, took it away, cut out the comb, and put the box back on. At least the job was neat, as I use unwired cut-comb foundation; intererfence was obvious as the boxes were misaligned.

As it was an inside job, a trail camera will be waiting when the boxes begin to fill this summer. Worked a few years ago when produce was disappearing from plots, and a plotholder was seen in the evenings walking in areas where he had no business. I nearly caught him red-handed: as he came up a path a plastic bag disappeared into his pocket; when I checked the plot, a yard of someone's coriander had been freshly cut. When the camera trapped him later that summer, he was shown the photos and evicted.

What a good tale ……. And a lovely sting to it.
Well done.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Well done

Not yet, Dani, the honey thief is yet to be caught; the story related to a general veg thief. I'll update the honey story in due course; hope they return and can be evicted, because otherwise I'll have to put a camera up every year.

The allotment has steel gates at both entrances, and both exits are covered by cameras and with restricted access, so an inside job it was.

 

[Sutty]

(Apologies for those who think the Government are doing a good job )

You should probably apologise to both of them!