North London theft

[ericbeaumont]

One cedar National hive (with under-super) and bees taken in the last seven days from Tottenham Marshes, North London. Police informed and remaining five colonies moved off-site.

 

[psafloyd]

One cedar National hive (with under-super) and bees taken in the last seven days from Tottenham Marshes, North London. Police informed and remaining five colonies moved off-site.

So, another one. The bastards.

 

[thurrock bees]

So, another one. The bastards.

 

[Luminos]

Just awful. At least you got the chance to move the others

 

[ericbeaumont]

Puzzled why they took only one of six.

Beginner theft? Local thief sees opportunity to supply beginner?

If it was a serious beekeeper why did they not take the lot? They didn't bother with a new Park poly-nuc, the easiest colony to carry.

Must have had some knowledge because they took it when the cold snap hit and the bees were clustered.

I notice that the Romford apiary had select hives taken too.

 

[busybee53]

Know how you feel eric. One of mine went from Romford apiary. Were your hives marked? Will they be able to remove the marks if so?

It appears that almost any mark can be scorched, sanded or planed off. I have just begun to use brass pins on the sides of the boxes in the shape of my post code. I figure that to remove them they will have to pull out about a hundred pins and even then the holes will still say my post code. I put it on the side of the the brood box so that they will have to completely take it to bits to get rid of the mark. They could use a bonfire to get rid of the evidence but I feel the theif who took mine actually wants the equipment as they took the stand, eke etc.

How about yours, did they take the lot or only the brood box? Was there any evidence useful to the police?

 

[ericbeaumont]

No evidence left. They took the lot except the pallets. I reckon they wanted the (unmarked) equipment because they had no way of knowing if the bees were dead or any good. Probably an opportunistic beginner thief (or thief beginner).

Police coming to the scene of crime tomorrow, though there's b-all they can do.

I like the pin idea - deeper than a scorch. Perhaps a metal-shop could make a set of sharpened pins on a bar, which could be hammered into the wood. Filling of the holes by a thief would still leave the details visible.

The taking of one hive per person at Romford sounds like the work of a kind-hearted thief who knows the apiary, does it not...

 

[busybee53]

I have a lot of words for the thief but kind hearted is not among them. Hope your other 5 are somewhere safe. I am back to one hive and hoping it makes it through the winter or I will have no bees.

 

[AnotherNewBee]

I like the pin idea - deeper than a scorch. Perhaps a metal-shop could make a set of sharpened pins on a bar, which could be hammered into the wood. Filling of the holes by a thief would still leave the details visible.

No idea if it's available in the UK but if it isn't it should be: http://www.apitrack.com/servicios/rfid_en_open.htm

 

[ericbeaumont]

Interesting. I believe Rooftops mentioned a similar system in a post somewhere.
Good as a deterrent if hives were labelled as so equipped, though they may burn the equipment and keep the bees.
Any idea of cost?

 

[AnotherNewBee]

Not sure on the price.

I think the system is intended so managers of large apiaries can check if the staff have visited all the hives they were meant to in a shift. To be used as an anti-theft (or rather theft recovery) device the police would need to be able to read the tags.

There might be more mileage in using animal type chips placed in holes in the boxes, then sealed over with wood filler (or embedded in the joints when flat-pack hives are assembled). The authorities should be able to use their usual tag readers to read them.

 

[dpearce4]

another thing that could be used is smartwater. had a look earlier on their website its about £5 per month.

not sure if it is worth it in high risk areas? or maybe there could be some way of getting some sort of bulk purchase for all beekeepers that want to use it?

 

[psafloyd]

I am likely to use Smartwater as I intend to get some for my home. Boxes are likely to be burnt, but frames not, so could hang around and be the means of catching a baddie.

 

[dpearce4]

I must admit it would be fun to see the old bill looking inside at the frames with a uv light to see if they had smartwater on them.

how many stings do you think they would get. lol

 

[psafloyd]

Not for the police.

 

[alanf]

RFID and smartwater have their uses, but probably more con than pro for hives. Main objection is that unless practice is widespread it won't be routinely checked. It won't be widespread because it costs, not just for the hardware but for registration of your codes on some central database. Charities like Dogs Trust charge around a tenner, which is probably close to what it costs them for a registered chip, vets charge for time on top. Simple weatherproofed RFID tags like key fobs start around a quid for small quantities. Smartwater registration is around a fiver a month as quoted before, most of the cost is maintaining the register and analysis of recovered samples.

Keep it simple. Make it difficult to dispose of stolen goods and as cheap to mark as much as possible. Use a traceable mark that can be spotted by anyone and needs no equipment to read. A small rubber stamp with initials and phone number should be fairly cheap from any stationary supplier. Use a postcode and house number if you prefer. Use permanent ink in a colour that stands out, red, blue, green etc. Stamp boxes on every surface, in the corners where sanding is difficult. Stamp frames on the top, sidebar and even under the wedge. Each impression does not have to be perfect, just enough to see there is a stamp and enough to construct a number from several stamps.

It has other uses in traceability for disease if you sell frames with a nuc. And you can use it on your books when you lend them.

 

[AnotherNewBee]

The simple solutions are usually the best.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Use a postcode and house number if you prefer. Use permanent ink in a colour that stands out, red, blue, green etc. Stamp boxes on every surface, in the corners where sanding is difficult. Stamp frames on the top, sidebar and even under the wedge.

And stamp them all with the words.....AFB..American foul brood, EFB, European foul brood....bound to be noticed more at some stage, if the items are kept.

 

[drstitson]

How about using coloured candle foundation?

can pick up cheap damaged/unpopular coloured mixed packs in the sales which could be used to provide starter strips.

 

[winmag270]

I was under the impression (probably wrongly) that it was poor grade wax that was used for candle foundation.....?