Bee rustling

[mothhawk]

Actually, 24,000 bees is a fairly small colony. I think a decent size colony has around 60,000 bees. I don't see any way that number of bees could be worth anywhere near what the owner claimed their value to be. I'm guessing 2 deeps could hold that many bees and could easily be stolen by one person in a few minutes...

As 4 hives were taken I wondered if the editor thought the reporter had made a mistake with a figure of 240,000 bees, (which would be 60,000 per hive) and so knocked off a zero. To a non-beek 24,000 sounds a huge amount, so 240,000 would seem astronomically wrong.

[mothhawk]

The saddest thing is that it is most likely other beekeepers who are doing the stealing, as bees need fairly specialist handling.

[alldigging]

The saddest thing is that it is most likely other beekeepers who are doing the stealing, as bees need fairly specialist handling.

They need a veil/hood to keep them out of your face but at night you could do it without (Although I think the photo showed they'd left the floor?)

All pretty crappy for the person whose bees they are though.

[Jay-ell]

They won't rustle mine, they've all got ear tags......

Electronic ear tagging is the answer.

Electronic tags already being used



Although this is to monitor swarming behaviour or something along those lines.

[DWSmith]

Micro-chipping (nano-chipping?) is also a possibility but since the workers only live a few weeks I think I'll stick with branding.

[vixylix]

Those chips seem so mean!!

[DWSmith]

US beekeeper arrested over spate of California beehive thefts - BBC News