I am now resigned to the fact that I have probably seen the last of my bees and hives etc which were stolen from Penmanshiel.
The site was particularly good, situated as it is alongside the main East Coast rail line, where it passes for several miles through natural woodland, open country and a considerable area where very little intensive agriculture is carried out. It is also fairly close to foothills where heather abounds. Consequently the forage for the bees was particularly good with a comparatively long series of nectar flows. Unfortunately it was also in full view of the A1. This may have been the reason that it was targeted by possibly an opportunist thief, who had noticed it whilst travelling the A1.
I am now making plans to re-establish my beekeeping activities.
Before the hives were stolen, I had already made an arrangement with a local farmer to place some hives in a quiet woodland area on the edge of my village. This was planned for next season. As I now have only one colony, this move will have to be placed on hold until I have made increase to my stock.
The new colony which Pat so kindly gave to me, is situated in an ideal setting but it is approximately 30 miles from home, so I am probably going to have to move it, or increase the number of colonies in this locality, otherwise travelling costs will far outweigh the advantages of its location. More decisions to make! Meanwhile I have visited this hive and fed the bees via an Ashworth feeder with 10 litres of sugar syrup to ensure sufficient stores to get them through the winter. I am keeping my fingers (and everything else) crossed that they survive until the spring when I hope to use this stock as the nucleus for my new colonies.
One of the things that I learned during a lifetime of beekeeping, is that you have to work with the seasons when dealing with bees. So spring time, when the bees start to stir in their nest and the queen resumes more active egg laying, will be the time to try to persuade the bees to agree to increase.
I am also considering the purchase of several packages of bees to introduce into new hives, although the price required by the bee breeders may curtail this option. Bee packages containing around three and a half pounds weight of bees and one queen were last season costing about £120. Quite an investment for what is now basically a hobby for me. Hopefully I may be able to acquire some stray swarms during May or June, although with so many colonies dieing out through so called colony collapse disorder, and general winter losses, swarms are now a much rarer phenomenon than they once were. The demand for bees may well outstrip the supply and costs will probably rise beyond this next year.
More soon.
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What an terrible act that was presumably perpetrated by one of our fellow "beekeepers". I've not heard of this new type of crime over here yet but I guess it's only a matter of time. I have my hive in the corner of the garden and a couple of barking dogs are great bouncers.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you manage to catch a swarm and transfer them to the woodland site that you secured. Best of luck and thanks for your comments.
Hi Thistledew, (good monicker!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my blog. It's always good when somebody stumbles across to read the ramblings of a CroydonBoy (which is now, of course, a misnomer!).
CroydonOldBoy would be more accurate, but hey! who cares.
What a heinous crime, the theft of your bee hives. There are some real toe-rag bits of scum out there. I do hope you can resume your lifelong beeking activity.
My neighbour and ex-boss, the Earl of Haddington here at Mellerstain has some bees, (or did so a couple of years back). I shall have to ask him if he still keeps them.
Whereabouts are you in the Borders? We live in one of the Earl's old cottages, twixt Kelso and Earlston. A very nice quiet spot which we 'stumbled across' by chance some 16 years ago. This is longest place we've lived after emigrating from England!
Anyway, nice to meet you, so to speak.
Cheers, Phil
Crickey, what an awful thing to have happen to you - what mongrels !! I do hope you can start up again,as you know, keeping bees is the best and most worthwhile journey we can take in this crazy world - thats what I tell people anyway !
ReplyDeleteI did read on some bee keeping news that theft of hives has been happening in the UK on a regular basis, we have had it happen here also, a large number of hives were stolen from a commercial business in the South Is acouple of years ago, presumably to provide varroa free bees to beekeepers up here in the North Island, the mite had not reached the bottom of the country at that stage. Closer to home in the eastern Bay of Plenty last year an apiary in an isolated bush setting was vandalised !! Driven through by a large vehicle, hives smashed and bees and honey just left - idiots, for want of a better word.
Anyway, on a nicer note, it is great to meet a fellower keeper of the bees from Scotland !
Thank you each for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI Googled bee hive thefts and came up with around 180,000 sites. Granted they were not all individual thefts but it does show that this crime is in fact on the increase.
This link should take you to one of the reports regarding my incident should you wish to see it.
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Thieves-steal-240000-prize-bees.5721643.jp
I am now trying to put this incident behind me and to clear the decks ready for next season.
To Cliff W.
I have a plan to work increase and to try and gain a comb honey crop in early summer from the colony donated by my friend Pat I hope to describe this on my blog. We shall see if it works for me.
To PhilipH.
You live in a super part of the Borders. We live in Chirnside, `twixt Berwick and Duns.
Not a million miles from you. I pass through Gordon quite regularly and have an aquaintance living in Fans, just to the North of you.
I should be interested to hear if the Earl does still keep bees. Likewise it is good to meet you even in cyberspace!
To Ngaio.
Why do some people target bee hives I wonder?
It seems to be an International Trend.
Before my bees were stolen, 3 of my hives on the same site were overturned and the bricks which I and most other beekeepers tend to place on the roofs were used as misiles to smash the frames, causing much distress to both me and the bees. That is another story though.
Nice to make your aquaintance, although it will take me a while to understand that whilst we in UK are closing hives down for the winter, you are on the brink of a new season. I hope that it is a good one for you.
Best wishes to all,
David (Thistledew)