bear

The Hive Is Dead

Anna Blankenheim Beekeeping, Critters , , , ,

Well folks, today I bring the sad, sad news that the beehive is indeed dead. I had put it all back together after the bear attack and there were a few bees hanging around. I was holding out hope that maybe they had escaped and flown away for safety. Alas, it appears Queen Latifah was slain along with many of her protectors.

I did some research this morning and it seems like once a bear finds a hive it’s pretty hard to keep them away. Electric fences help some, but often they begin to head closer to the house in search of yummys (ie. garbage cans). As fun as that sounds, I really don’t want to have a face to face meeting with a bear, so I’ve decided to give up beekeeping.

Fortunately my brother-in-law and sister-in-law are also beekeepers, so at least the hives can be put to good use.

It was an adventure little honeybees…

A Bear Ate My Bees

Anna Blankenheim Beekeeping, Critters , ,

Disaster struck Blankenheim Orchards sometime between last night and this afternoon… a bear ate my bees. To be clear, he tore down the orchard fence and then decimated my beehive. This was the scene I came home to:

The Destruction
The Destruction

Up close, there were still some bees buzzing around, but it honestly looked like a bee battlefield… little bodies were everywhere. I hope most of them got away and so I put the hive back together as best as I could. Four frames were completely destroyed. I didn’t find the queen, so the bees might not even come back, but the few that were around seemed keen to the idea of going back into the hive. I honestly did not expect this to happen… I thought my fence would be enough deterrent!

The Hive Up Close
The Hive Up Close

Apparently this is why people in the mountains don’t keep bees. I hope they stung that bear on his nose! Hopefully Queen Latifah is cruising the neighborhood not ruling the big hive in the sky.