my property is not fenced & i have kids cutting across my place fairly regularly. there is also a vacant house behind mine that i watch for the owner. I've had some ru-ins with some teenagers hanging out at the vacant house & for being rowdy when crossing my place. a couple of them got pretty mouthy so i told them the next time i see them I'll drop a dime on them. when looked out the back window this morning & my hives were overturned. the weather has been mild but dropped into the 30's last night. the hive bodies separated but the frames stayed in them & the bees held their clusters. i set them back up & it looks like most the bees stayed put. i had just inspected them all yesterday so i have a pretty good idea how many were in each hive. hopefully the queens survived although i did not see any. with 3 of 4 hives were i simply had to restack the boxes & align the frames. but the top edge ( at the rabbet joint where the frames rest ) of the 4Th hive broke off so i had to replace the box. as i moved the frames to the new box i looked but did not see the queen. i did not dawdle while looking because of the temperature 40* ) so i could have missed her. when should i start checking for brood? if i need a queen I'd rather find out earliar than later.
I've been procrastinating the hanging of a game camera at the hives. hanging the camera is the easy part. but-before i hang it i need to convert an empty electrical panel to a lock box so the camera does not get stolen.
By all means do it it! This little punks need to be held accountable for what they do!
Good luck.
Check after 5 days. If you have eggs, all is well. Get an infrared camera with no flash. Hide it up high.
there was a time you could have gone to the parents and known it would be taken care of. now the parents are as bad as the kids.
Quote from: kathyp on February 24, 2012, 06:26:51 PM
there was a time you could have gone to the parents and known it would be taken care of. now the parents are as bad as the kids.
Sigh...so true.
I would wait on checking them until your weather warms up quite a bit. I wouldn't touch them until the daytime temps are in the upper 60's. Hope you catch who did it.
...JP
back in the old days a guy would load up some shotgun shells with rock salt. But that was in ancient times.
as a kid i cut across neighbors yards, pastures, & row crop fields. but- we always asked permission 1st & respected the property we were on. closing gates behind us & walking between crop rows was part of the deal. i caught some 10 year olds breaking windows on the vacant house behind me. i followed one home & told the father. his reply was that she wasin trouble. the next day she road by on a new bicycle. as a kid i would have been in deep s**t & my bike would have taken away for awhile & i'd have been made to pay restitution. from the lowest to the top there seems to be no accountabilty any more.
i'll wait for warmer weather to check the girls. there is nothing i could do to fix a failing hive ( other than feed ) at this time anyway.
Having taught High School for over 20 years I can tell you that the days of parents handling it is fastly fading. When I started teaching if you asked the students what would happen if they get in trouble at school they would say that they would be in more trouble when they get home. Today that same question will result in them saying that if they get in trouble at school their mom and dad will be at school the next to find out which teacher is messing with their child.
If you have the money, fence in your beeyard and put the camera up. Put up a sign that warns the fence is high voltage (even though it isn't, they won't know that)!
Start with some No Trepassing signs and fence off the easy routes across the property if possible. Let the local law officers know what is going on in the abandoned house and in case bug spray gets used on your hives. Game cameras are good also. Or you can just leave it bee and hope nothing else happens.
QuoteHaving taught High School for over 20 years I can tell you that the days of parents handling it is fastly fading.
can't help but thing that some of that has to do with parents not having to be responsible? school feeds the kids, state feeds the parents, etc. don't want to turn this into a coffee house conversation.... :evil:
One problem is that lots of parents are kids themselves...or at least kids that never grew up....
The problem is that most people in general have no respect for themselves let alone anyone else why do i say that??? I drive truck for a living at this point in time people do some really arrogant manuevers in their vehicles there just isnt common sense these days. Chris
Bear traps are good!! But honestly officer... I thought I had a bear problem! :)
lol
I vote for high voltage bear traps rigged to remote fired shotguns loaded with rocksalt. ;)
But i'm a firm believer in "spare the rod and spoil the child". Too many kids need there butts busted, parents too!!!
Now I'll get off my soapbox.
If you post no trespassing signs, check ordinances, sometime they have to be a certain distance apart to be legal. Like 20 ft or closer apart. I would install cameras and be ready to presecute if the do it again.
rock salt.... I prefer lead.. of course the EPA will have something to say about lead poisoning.. LOL!
Remember;
Missouri has the purple paint law !
Bee-Bop
i checked the hives & the bees i still have bees. i was already planning on fencing the back off this spring anyway. i misplaced an empty electrical panel that i'm planning on modifying into a lock box for my game camera. i'd hate to hang it only to have it stolen.
instead of bear traps burmese tiger pits would be an option. nothing like being impaled on pungee stakes to change behavior. i am aware of the purple paint law. thing is the back property line is already posted for no trespassing.
What is the purple paint law? Do what the Amazons do: behead the punks, put their decapitated heads on stakes near the hives. If that doesn't deter them, NOTHING will!!! (just kidding, of course!) :-D
Missouri Purple law
No need for trespass signs, purple paint mark on trees/rocks etc. every so often !
Quote from: Bee-Bop on March 01, 2012, 01:19:15 PM
Missouri Purple law
No need for trespass signs, purple paint mark on trees/rocks etc. every so often !
I like that law. Would save having to replace no posting signs every couple of years.
Jim