Hi Joe & Jerry,

I have heard stories of hives stolen, bees stolen, hives and trailers
stolen, honey stolen and even more atrocious acts upon other beekeepers.
I do have to say though that the group as a whole consists of a fraternity
of remarkably warm and wonderful people, honest people. And, because of
the goodness of the majority it is hard to believe that there is also a
minority that is like a parasite that dwells in the depths of
civilization’s worst excuse for mankind and takes a portion or even all of
the livelihood away from those who have worked very hard to establish a
very noble vocation or avocation.

With the price of package bees, splits, and standard replacement queens
rising, not to mention the prices of breeder queens, indeed there is the
need to deter theft in the apiaries. Higher returns are now available for
those who sell their honey and lease their bees for pollination services.
Also the high cost of miticides and medication also affects and increases
the value of a hive. All combined this helps to put a dollar value of
increasing proportions on the bee hive in an apiary.  A yard with 30 hives
now has an assessed value of around $3500.00 dollars. That's a lot of
money, and unfortunately it is just sitting there, hopefully hidden from
open view; but, easy to find from the air or if you happen to live in
areas not covered by hills or trees plain sight.  IMO the living standard
hive contains two basic items of value, the hive with frames intact and
the bees -hardware and software.

I certainly can see the application of microchips in beekeeping equipment
not only as a deterrent to theft, but also as a management and tracking
tool which can help recover the costs associated with procurement of the
microchip tracking system and the chips as well.  Even if a hive is sold
the microchips hidden inside can give the new legal owner piece of mind
that he bought a hive or frames of brood from a legitimate source. I am
sure that to a sideliner or larger organization that the incorporation and
utilization of microchips will be a beneficial asset to management of the
beekeepers hardware. Even frames with honey or brood can be micro-chipped
just as those that are currently branded so that a deterrent to theft
exists.

Earlier in this thread of discussion with Subject Titles: "microchips"
and "Hive ID tags" I reported an incidence in which the bees were stolen
and the hardware was left behind. Here certainly is the need for a chip
small enough so not to hinder the free movement of the queen, but can be
used as an identification and management tool which could help deter theft
of one’s bees.

If a universal system of identification can become established that gives
one interchangeability of  microchip identifying hardware and software
from manufacturer to manufacturer,  bee breeder to bee keeper then every
queen breeder would be able to sell queens that are permanently
identifiable wherever she and her children may go. Of course there would
still be options available to the apian absconder, but the magnitude of a
system that helps to both manage and protect woodenware and bees, hardware
and software, and the ease of identification by public officials will
become a deterrent to those who chose to steal from hard working honest
people. Microchips will become another tool in the beekeepers toolbox that
will help to protect his hives from theft and, also help the beekeeper
become a better beekeeper.

Regards,

Chuck Norton
Norton's Nut & Honey Farm
Reidsville, NC

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