Assessment sometimes increases with good conversation and coffee...

[helen99]

A ranger came out today to look at the damage. He spent all morning and a cup of coffee with us. By the end of the morning and after much interesting discussion about all kinds of subjects with rialian and his dad, he declared total loss of all three hives and estimated the reimbursement at $650.00. Apparently all the frames had been chewed to pieces (around 80 frames between the three hives). The bees in the top bar were added to the loss since they'd swarmed away. The other two hives had their entire brood destroyed, so they were totaled as well.

Whoa. Things always cost a lot more than I would have ever imagined.

Comments

[rainbow]

I'm just getting caugth up on your bee and bear adventures -- oof!

[helen99]

I've been having such a weird juxtaposition of reactions about this incident.

On the one hand, I'm very protective of the bees.
On the other hand, bears are beautiful, intelligent creatures and I wouldn't want to hurt one.
On the other hand, if I don't do something, the bees are in danger and ... must protect bees (very protective of them).
On the other hand, the bear was hungry - it had just woken up from winter, and needed the protein -- and I didn't protect the bees with an e-fence to begin with, so it wasn't the bear's fault - why should it pay the price.
On the other hand, Must Protect Bees (beekeeper prime directive, lol).
On the other hand, bear was here first. I am intruder.

Yargh. Anyway, I'm sorry about expressing murderous intent. I think I would have felt the same if it had been a person... (Must Protect Bees(X))^x=infinity...

[rainbow]

*nod* I understand completely and i think those would have been the same reactions I had, too. Poor bear is hungry and was here first, but must protect bees!

I'm glad you've been able to get the e-fence, and I hope the survivign bees willthrive and the bear will learn quickly that trying for the protected bees isn't in hir best interest.

[hummingwolf]

Oh dear. You guys have had quite a weekend! I hope your e-fence works well and your future in beekeeping is much less... interesting.

[helen99]

We actually hadn't paid anything for any of the equipment. Rialian's dad had found all of it (including the hives and the frames) in an abandoned milk truck that was on a neighbor's property. He asked the neighbor if he could have the equipment and was told to go ahead and take it - it was mainly just rotting where it was. I'd cleaned up, sanded, and painted the hives and made them look pretty. The frames weren't the modern plastic foundations or even wax - they were just bare frames with wires crisscrossing them. Very old stuff, but perfectly usable once it was cleaned up.

Replacing all of it will be expensive. I'm not sure Rialian's dad will find another abandoned milk truck full of beekeeping equipment. With him you never know though. He might. In any case, reimbursement will allow us to get more frames and replace the bees that were lost.

[wetdryvac]

Hmm. I'm actually surprised that some organization reimburses property damage, but glad that you guys have a set of solutions to work with.

[rialian]

===They will for bears...those are impressive animals. They want the beekeepers happy, as they are kinda needed for things like apples....nice thing about living in an more agricultural state.

[feyandstrange]

I suppose leaving a tub of lard somewhere well away from the bees won't keep the bears away, will it? Where do hungry bears get their protein other than hives?

Poor bees. And poor you guys, seeing your hard work destroyed and your bees eaten. I hope things go better after this...

[rialian]

===Afraid not...however, I will be using lard in regards to the bears soon.

===You bait the fence with it, so that the bear tries to lick the fence. It learns that the fence is not a thing it wants to deal with.

===Apparently honeybees are really high in everything a young bear needs....and hives tend to be hit in the spring and in the autumn.

[feyandstrange]

Sounds like it should work well. Or perhaps bacon for bait, as that might smell more? I was just wondering where else a bear would get its protein from until I remembered they do eat carrion.

...and I picture a 'protein lick' and shudder.

It may be legal to use rubber shot in Helen's shotgun on bears in your state, although whether or not rubber shot will actually deter a bear is another question.

Not mine....

[helen99]

The 7mm is a rifle that rialian's dad gave to rialian for deer hunting... I have only = touched it once (and by "touched" I mean, "putting my fingertip on the rifle so I could say I touched a gun". I have never fired a gun in my life. I was mainly blowing off steam about how I was going to single-handedly dispatch yon bear. Don't believe a word of it... rialian is a pretty good shot with it, but the scope is broken on it so the bears (and deer) are safe... for now...

Re: Not mine....

[guardianjain]

What, no iron sights? (Helper.)

But also... 7mm rifle != shotgun.


(Hi, I'm your regularly scheduled freak who actually enjoys shooting... though a round of very bad luck and a shitty end on a relationship has reduced my arsenal to one 12-guage shotgun.)