Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: WayneW on March 06, 2009, 10:28:02 pm
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Spent last friday afternoon with my dental hygenist (hence the ouch) :roll: and we got to talking about my new found hobby, bees.
She told me that near her home there is an old home with a few hives in the back. The owners have passed away, and the hives have been unmanaged for probably 10 or so years. I of course asked if she knew wether or not there were still bees in the hives, but she dosent want a thing to do with bees, and has kept her distance.
I am going to take a ride out tomorrow and see what i can see from the road without trespassing (she has no idea if anyone owns the propertry, or if they would care that i walk in to see the bees :idunno: ). I will take my camera and a pair of binoculars to see what i can see, and perhaps knock on a neighbors door, to see if they think my venturing closer would be acceptable.
After 10 or more years of non-management, if there are bees in the hive(s), would they be considered "feral" or just some hardy suvivor stock? Either way, if i DO find bees, i will contact the township, perhaps they would want the bees removed, or have information on who i could contact about removing them.........i sure do want them if they are alive and healthy :)
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After 10 or more years of non-management, if there are bees in the hive(s), would they be considered "feral" or just some hardy suvivor stock?
probably both! :-)
i will contact the township, perhaps they would want the bees removed,
if it were me, i'd find out who owns the property and contact them directly. i never have very good luck getting the government involved. who knows what hair brained rule might prevent you from taking the bees??
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You can check with the assessors office or recorders office to find the owner information.
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if it were me, i'd find out who owns the property and contact them directly. i never have very good luck getting the government involved. who knows what hair brained rule might prevent you from taking the bees??
The problem with contacting the owners is that i would need a Medium or Ghost Hunters. Acording to my source, they had no childern, and both have now passed away. I'm guessing here, but either the home is tied up in probate (some out of town family?) or, it's now owned by the township by default (emenient domain), or possibly a bank if there are any existing leans on the property. You're right about not getting local gvt involved, they may decide the bees are a hazzard, and destroy them rather than letting me take them. Perhaps a trip to the county courthouse and a look at the tax roles or deed would be a better way to porceed if all else fails.
@Bobb, our avatars look suprisingly similar :)
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@Bobb, our avatars look suprisingly similar :)
They do. These are my Bostons' Beau-de and Abby-jo
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Ours are Greater Swiss Mtn Dogs, the taller one is Dakota and his sister is Sheba, a real pair of clowns to be certain :-D
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might want to look into buying the property while you are at it. bargains all about!!
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After 10 or more years of non-management, if there are bees in the hive(s), would they be considered "feral" or just some hardy suvivor stock? Either way, if i DO find bees, i will contact the township, perhaps they would want the bees removed, or have information on who i could contact about removing them.........i sure do want them if they are alive and healthy :)
Absolutely NOTHING good comes from getting the government involved. Code enforcement will come out and cite the owners for having a property in disrepair, an insect infestation and who knows what else. Your neighbors will be wondering what lousy neighbor called the city on them!
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Check with the probate clerk of the county. See if the owners (as identified by tax records) have an estate open. If so, the personal representatives will be listed in the filings with the court. Contact them to get the bees. Court approval may be ncecessary, but this is where you start. The county may own the land, but I doubt it. Eminent domain is where the government takes land (and must pay for it) for a public use. The doctrine of escheat is the method by which the state acquires ownership of property of those with heirs when they die. Until you check the probate court filings, you will not know.
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She told me that near her home there is an old home with a few hives in the back. The owners have passed away, and the hives have been unmanaged for probably 10 or so years. I of course asked if she knew wether or not there were still bees in the hives, but she dosent want a thing to do with bees, and has kept her distance.
Just be careful, I once serviced a hive like that and got stung 379 times. The lady kept her husgands bees for a rememberance and hire me to put on a new super, the ist time in 5 years it had been touched. Those bees would have made AHB look like pikers.
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Just be careful, I once serviced a hive like that and got stung 379 times. The lady kept her husgands bees for a rememberance and hire me to put on a new super, the ist time in 5 years it had been touched. Those bees would have made AHB look like pikers.
I was thinking they could be mean also, but i have a good full suit and gloves, if i even get to get near them. Todays trip is to get close enough to see if there are bees there at all. Im taking my video camera (it's got 20 x zoom) in case i cant get close enough to see if theres anything flying. It's goona be 60 here, so if there are surviving bees, they will definately be flying.
If there are bees, then i will be taking steps to find out about ownership etc.
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sounds really super, llol no pun intended, keep us updated. count the stings. :evil:
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Good luck on the rescue mission. It seems like the right thing to do for everyone involved.
Regards,
Tucker
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All this is good advise especially about getting the gov't involved. On the other hand it could be that the owners had allowed another beek to put his hives there and neighbors do not know of the arrangement. Unless they watch closely they may have missed visits. That is just a possibility but one that I know to have happened locally since I was the one called to remove them. I fortunately knew the other beek and relayed the information to those wanting the bees removed. He was amazed that neighbors were unaware of his maintenance. He moved the colony.
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Just a thought, my county and several around me have GIS maps on the computer through the property appraisers site. I can find current property owners on them.
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The place to go is the County Auditor or whatever you call them in PA who collects the property taxes for your County. They have a record and address of the property owners to collect the taxes.