'nother bruin

[CharlieV]

Lost another hive to Mr. Bear. Just east of Dicksonburg, couple miles
south of Conneautville. The property owner was trying to call me, but
I was on a conference call with Pa State Beekeepers.... 4 people
stood outside and watched it for 20 minutes until it got tired of
being watched. Then carried frames into woods under a tree. It's a
resident. Sightings from others in area. About 300+ lbs. Funny how
the sighting stories come up all the sudden AFTER the damage. When I
asked before, land owners never saw any bear.

[Daniel Jepson]

Charlie;
It seems like they could have fired a couple shots in the air to try to
scare it off until they could reach you about it. I have read that some
beeks have had pretty good success by simply leaving a ratchet strap around
the entire hive to make it more perplexing for the bear to get into the
hive. They still knock them over and bang them around, which is not good
either, but they seem to give up trying if the strap holds and head off to
other mischief. Can't say I've seen it work, but I have read lots of stories
about it. Those Chinese ratchet straps at walmart are pretty darn
inexpensive to try it.

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[Charles Vorisek]

   I thought I could buy some time with my sister-in-law’s hive.  It’s a 100 yds from any wood line and 20 feet from the house.  Nope!   Mr Bear got it Sat nite.  I will say he’s gentle.  No broken boxes or frames.  Just licks the plastic foundation like a dinner dish.  The 3 boxes were nicely laid on their side.  Only took 4 medium frames of honey from the super. The bees and brood were still intact.
    Yeah, I thought a couple shots might stop him as well....but I’m a lousy shot when I’m excited and might hit him.
Charlie V

[Charlie Heffner Jr]

 I've had some luck with the ratchet straps. Put the strap thru the blocks or hive stand, whatever that hive is on, and around the whole hive.
Did have 1 hive tipped over in Fairview last summer, may have been raccoon or high wind, but hive held together, lying on the ground. Cold rain got queen before I could get there, but hive was still in 1 piece.
 Started using them to protect against high winds. Can't believe can safeguard against determined bear or raccoon, but do help. Have learned to open slowly, so as not to disturb bees when opening hive.
      Charlie Heffner
 

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Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:52:51 -0400
Subject: Re: [NWPBA:1441] 'nother bruin ..'n again!
From: vbee...@windstream.net
To: nw...@googlegroups.com

[Charles Vorisek]

   I’m offering that bear a challenge.  I put a junky box with nasty comb that I’m going to burn anyway.  I put TWO ratchet straps around it.  Then I set my game camera up.  A bear opened the finger joints on a hive last fall.  I think this is a bigger bear.  Maybe I’ll get some pics to post.

Charlie V

On 3/25/12 2:31 PM, "Charlie Heffner Jr" <charles...@msn.com> wrote:

I've had some luck with the ratchet straps. Put the strap thru the blocks or hive stand, whatever that hive is on, and around the whole hive.
Did have 1 hive tipped over in Fairview last summer, may have been raccoon or high wind, but hive held together, lying on the ground. Cold rain got queen before I could get there, but hive was still in 1 piece.
 Started using them to protect against high winds. Can't believe can safeguard against determined bear or raccoon, but do help. Have learned to open slowly, so as not to disturb bees when opening hive.
      Charlie Heffner
 

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Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:52:51 -0400
Subject: Re: [NWPBA:1441] 'nother bruin ..'n again!
From: vbee...@windstream.net
To: nw...@googlegroups.com

Re: [NWPBA:1440] 'nother bruin ..'n again!     I thought I could buy some time with my sister-in-law’s hive.  It’s a 100 yds from any wood line and 20 feet from the house.  Nope!   Mr Bear got it Sat nite.  I will say he’s gentle.  No broken boxes or frames.  Just licks the plastic foundation like a dinner dish.  The 3 boxes were nicely laid on their side.  Only took 4 medium frames of honey from the super. The bees and brood were still intact.