Kevin Nixon doesn’t want to point fingers, but he suspects it was another beekeeper who stole 12 of 48 hives from one of his bee yards south of Red Deer.
Only beekeepers have the equipment and the knowledge to move the hives, he said.
“You’d hate to think that, but realistically who else could do it but another beekeeper? That is the disappointing part,” said Nixon of Innisfail.
Workers noticed the missing hives Aug. 26 when they went to the yard to collect boxes of honey for processing.
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The hives were on pallets in the field with the pallet acting as the bottom of the hive. The thieves lifted the hives off the pallet and drove away.
Nixon estimates losing the 12 hives cost him $6,000, as well as the value of the honey. There could be 10 to 50 pounds of honey in each bee box at this time of year, which is when the bees are slowing down production.
Nixon doesn’t believe it’s worth reporting the theft to police because there is no way to identify the hives.
“As a beekeeper, we have to make that choice to deal with it. To investigate and have police hours spent on it isn’t realistic, and recovery is likely not going to happen.
“It’s a nuisance, it’s $6,000 lost. Your confidence in your community goes down. It is just an all around disappointing thing.”
Nixon said theft from bee yards is not common, which is why beekeepers have not traditionally placed identifying markers on the hives. Some beekeepers burn a brand into the boxes and others paint the boxes with slightly different paint to help identify them.
Branding may be an option in the future, he said.
Setting up trail cameras near bee yards may also be an option, but the costs can quickly rise. Nixon said he might investigate placing tracking equipment in the hives.
“We probably don’t use technology as good or as much as we should in the industry,” he said.
mary.macarthur@producer.com
