
Thieves are targeting beehives with growing sophistication - mchan
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/18/bees-hives-theft-stealing-organized-crime-threat
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cameron_b
There's some good work being done in small niches on bees [0] [1] and others.
Are any HN folks working on bee-focused projects that would give their work a
shoutout? I'd love throw in on research, data collection or product
development work using my own hives if teams are looking for help.

[0] [https://apic.ai](https://apic.ai)

[1] [https://pollenity.com](https://pollenity.com)

edit - links

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mbag
Thanks for the links, those projects look cool. I'm not a beekeeper, but one
day I would like to become one. For now I'm just reading on the subject And of
course I stmbled up on the mite problem.

Do you by any chance know of anyone doing something similar to this article
[1] It's noted as WIP, but I didn't manage to find any follow up papers, or
some open source projects doing something similar. apic.ai looks similar but I
don't think it's using lasers to remove mites from them.

[1]
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313808393_Basic_alg...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313808393_Basic_algorithms_for_bee_hive_monitoring_and_laser-
based_mite_control)

~~~
cameron_b
I don't know about removing mites.

From what I've seen the best practices are around ideas that seem like "the
best defense is a good offense" \-- or providing the bees the best possible
chances and situation and letting them take care of themselves, which they do
white well when fed a range of foods and not squeezed too tightly for profits
and trucked across country.

Rev. Langstroth's work on this is dated ( 1850s and 1860s ) but still
incredibly relevant. He's given a lot of credit for his work on moveable-frame
hives, but 'd say he did a lot to advocate for the practice of bee keeping as
a practice that could be engaged, as gardening, by anyone with interest.

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jansan
Heard the same story from a beekeeper in Poland. Some assholes are actually
stealing other beekeepers' hives.

Are there any affordable tracking devices with long battery life (a few
months) available that could be used to track down the thieves?

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yetihehe
No, but it's possible to do. They need to be working only for some period
after disturbing. Because beehive is stationary, it can use mechanical tilt
switch, which enables device only when hive is moved. My beekeeping friend
uses cheap rfid tags inlayed inside hive walls to easily identify that beehive
is his, in case of needing to quickly check it. If he thinks someone stole the
hive, it's quick to bring phone near known location on hive and confirm it.
Gps trackers for each hive are still too expensive.

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eschneider
If you read the article, it's clear that wouldn't help much as the thieves are
quickly breaking down the hives and reboxing the bees. The original beehives
are discarded.

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pvaldes
A system that would make a phone call based in an acelerometer inside the
beehive would deserve a look at least.

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yetihehe
If you can be notified as soon as thieves are breaking/moving hives, that
would help immensely.

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ptah
> It’s frustrating because it’s getting harder and harder to keep bees alive.

this seems to be the real problem

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yellow_lead
Can one breed bees? I wonder if we could selectively breed pesticide
resistance.

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James_Henry
The honeybee is a domesticated species, and there are breeding programs set on
making honeybees more resistant to the mite and virus that are often the cause
of colony collapse. It's a tricky process though.

My guess is that genetic engineering of the bees or their microbiome will end
up being the solution.

Or we can just let them all become africanized...

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ptah
genuinely curious: how will africanization help?

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dangerface
Africanized bees are more hearty to mites and disease.

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isoskeles
Are they also domesticated though?

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James_Henry
No, and they can be pretty dangerous.

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5040
Bee theft has a long history, with even Plato talking about it. (Laws
8.843d-e)

>And if any, yielding to his taste of bees, secures for himself another man's
swarm by attracting them with the rattling of pans, he shall pay for the
damage.

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jtokoph
I predict an FBI sting operation soon

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Balanceinfinity
need to lojack the hives

