7.27.14 -- Bear came back last week

Well, a few days after putting the hives back together, reenergizing the fence as well as putting it back in place, the bear came back!

This time, he probably got a shock though because he didn't get to the hive and just knocked over part of the fence.  Thankfully.

I had to get more aggressive.  I hired a local beekeeper to go over since I couldn't make the round trip drive again during a work week.  His recommendation was to give up my current fence which is the mesh that is movable and used a lot as a temporary enclosure that can be moved easily.

He suggested a more permanent fence and use a car battery to electrify it so that the shock will be much greater and hopefully a great deterrent.  That was Tuesday.  This is Sunday.  I have no phone calls telling me of additional bear sightings or damage so it's probably working.

I will take photos when I go there next Sunday.

Bear attack on beehives

A dreaded event took place sometime Friday night into Saturday morning....bears attacked my beehives. These were the hives at the end of the day. I prayed the bear wouldn't come back again during the night so that I might possibly be able to salvage something. I'd leave in the morning.l

I made a 3 hour round trip today to put them back together again, fix the fence and reelectrify it.  The issue was that the fence had lost its charge in my absence. And I guess the bear were hungry. I had hired a beekeeper to check the hives and change the batteries last week but this happened before they came. Not sure if I mixed up the hives putting them back together (I had two different varieties). So who knows what those repercussions might be.  I guess we'll see. 

The bees were busy these last several weeks. Even with what we lost, the boxes were all heavy with honey.  I had a tough time moving them.  The super I had put on them were almost full so I added another super to each. We might still eek out a honey crop in spite of it.  We'll see. If there are no further attacks.

 The bear took 6 or so frames of honey...but it was honey the bees need to survive the winter. I'll most likely have to give them some of "mine" to help them out if they can't replace what was taken. I gave them blank frames with no comb so they'll need to work hard. I hope we continue to have cooperation with the weather.

I only found two of those frames no longer in the box or anywhere around.. Maybe I'll come across them licked clean somewhere in the woods during mushroom foraging.

I apologize for being so far away in this shot.  The bees were furious and even with a full bee outfit on, I was stung many, many times in the three hours I worked on the site putting things back together.  The photos were taken just before I left for my return trip so was without my suit now.  I wanted no more stings.  It'll probably take days for them to settle down.  And me.