The Bears and Bees

A small group of friends decided to give a bee hive a shot this Summer. We made contact with a local beekeeper who has a number of hives in different locations in the area, but none in our specific neighborhood. We were also fortunate in that a local foundation provided the start-up costs to give it a try. The hive was installed and everything was going well until recently. We knew there are bears in the area  and that bears relish honey. It only took one opportunity in broad daylight that the electric fence was down when Mr/Mrs Bear came a calling! Our beekeeper mentor came out immediately to access the damage which resulted in much of the honey in the bear’s stomach but most of the bees, eggs, and brood survived. This year there will be very little honey for the bees to share with us, but we did learn a hard lesson. Incidentally, our beekeeper reported that bears were very aggressive on hives this year so we are not alone.

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