UEA Bluebell Apiary vandalised. I can't visit every hive every day even in the summer let alone the winter. I have however, been dropping into the UEA apiary on a fairly regular basis just to check that the hives were still upright.Today one wasn't.
The top brood box was on the ground on it's side. I was able to pick it up and place it back in position on top of the bottom box but I was getting stung so much that I had to retire and go back for my beekeeping suit in order to get the frames back into position. Even so there is still one sticking up proud. I will have to visit the hive again in a day or two with a smoker and sort it out properly.
These bees do not like being messed around with on the best of days and in the best of conditions - today's circumstances were neither.
The good note I can draw from it was that I could see (as you can in the photo) that there were plenty of bees in the hive.
The second hive was left alone. Hopefully the young vandals were also getting stung for their trouble and had decided to retreat from the scene of the crime.
http://patricklaslett.blogspot.com/2008/10/another-bright-sunny-day.html
1 comment:
Bees are becoming an endangered species. It's appalling to me that people of this day don't care about other people's property nor do they care what happens to the hapless bees when they're left exposed for prolonged periods of time. The bee keeper's job is in most respects thankless. However, I thank you for providing a service that we humans would never like to have to do. I watched a news report about fruit tree growers in China. Because of China's disregard for their environment, the Chinese growers have to pollinate all the fruit themselves because the bee's have all been killed off. Good luck to you and I hope the vandals are discouraged from bothering you again.
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