Messed up hive

fcderosa · May 24, 2006, 11:10:05 AM

Went to check some out hives and add supers as needed. Of the two hives I have in this field, one had the supers knocked off onto the ground with the frames scattered about helter skelter. Wax missing from 2/3 of them. The two deeps where still intact but what was once strong hive wasn't any longer - about 1/2 the bees were missing. I put the inner nd outer cover back on and didn't bother putting super back on. The hive next to it seem a bit aggitated and jumpy. If it were a bear(which are rare but not unheard of here) I would've had no hives remaining right? Any ideas?

randydrivesabus · May 24, 2006, 11:48:02 AM

could be anything from a dog to a skunk to a bear to a human. any tracks? droppings?

TwT · May 24, 2006, 12:06:47 PM

I have only seen picture's of bear damage, and this sound like it could be a bear..... a super would be to heavy for most animal to take off with knocking the while hive over...

fcderosa · May 24, 2006, 02:18:01 PM

Just a cow track. I would think it would have knocked over the whole hive not just the supers. These supers are deeps though, my freind thought the bigger the box the greater amount of honey,,,,,,,,,,,,hey - it's his hive. The box itself were found about 12 feet from the hive in tall grass.

TREBOR · May 24, 2006, 05:32:27 PM

QuoteThe box itself were found about 12 feet from the hive in tall grass.

BEAR..!
I HAVE WATCH BEARS TEAR APART MY TRASH BEFORE,
(while I stood there) THEY DID NOT
JUST EAT IT THERE, THEY DRAG IT TO A PLACE WITH COVER THEN THEY SIT DOWN AND ENJOY THER'RE MEAL.....

Brian D. Bray · May 25, 2006, 12:40:12 AM

A raccoon will act very much the same way as a bear but I doubt if one could haul a full box that distance. So I vote bear.
Then too, if it had been a raccoon it would have come back several times to feed on the remains and you would have only had empty boxes left.

I had a heck of a time trying to keep my pet raccoon out of my bees when I was a teenager. He loved to scare the pigeons too.

Michael Bush · May 25, 2006, 08:52:32 AM

That's pretty much what they look like when the horses get done with them too. :)

TREBOR · May 25, 2006, 12:24:50 PM

wow I didn't know horses did that....! :shock:

Michael Bush · May 26, 2006, 09:03:05 AM

The horses have gotten a hold of wet supers and eaten them, comb, frames, boxes and all. Well there were pieces of the frames and boxes left... But you need to keep hives fenced off from horses.

beemad · May 29, 2006, 02:56:29 PM

cows and sheep will rub against hives and topple supers from the brood remember cows will rub further up than the ground also they will push and butt things around i use to have a 200kg barrel full of water in our cow yard and our young bulls would knock the crap out of it. if this is the case an electric fence around the hives will stop this also might stop any bears too .