Ontario’s beekeepers buzzing over threat from bee rustlers

Drastic declines in bee populations — crucial for pollinating crops and producing honey — due to disease, parasites, pesticides and other factors have troubled Canada's beekeepers for the last few years.

Now they've got another threat to contend with: rustlers.

The Toronto Star reports Ontario beekeepers are the latest in Canada to have been hit by thieves who've made off with honey, entire bee hives and, in Ian Critchell's case, two queen bees he was using to establish new hives.

The Havelock, Ont., apiarist suspects it was another beekeeper.

“They knew exactly what they were doing,” Critchell told the Star. “It’s someone who has been around the business. To take queens, this is not a newbie at this.”

[ Related: What's killing Canadian honeybees? ]

Whoever burgled his beehives snuck past his house and farmyard, making straight for the shipping containers that hold his mating boxes, where new queens are confined with worker bees for two days so they bond. The thief pulled the lid off the boxes and took the queens from their small plastic cages.

Queen bees sell for about $30 each, Critchell told the Star, adding there's no way to trace them. It's not like they carry tiny brands.

“If someone has walked out with queens and they’re down the road, you can’t prove that they’re your queens. You can’t trace your bees. They’re not tagged like a cow,” Critchell said.

But the thief also stole six of his custom-made mating boxes, which are unique enough that they can be identified if police find them, he said.

The Star reported that in May, a thief looted honey from several hives in the Goderich, Ont., area, and police in Kawartha Lakes were also investigating the theft of eight hives worth $1,600. Other thefts near Waterloo, Peterborough and Ottawa have had Ontario's 3,100 beekeepers buzzing.

The problem is widespread. Last year, a beekeeper near Grande Prairie, Alta., lost millions of bees to a thief who stole 150 hives, CBC News reported. The theft cost Bill Termeer $60,000 and was not covered by insurance.

As in Ontario, Termeer suspected it's another beekeeper.

"You would have to have pretty good knowledge of beekeeping," Termeer told CBC News. "You'd have to have the right kind of equipment to go in there and open up these hives."

[ Related: Manitoba beekeepers lose 70 per cent of bees ]

Alberta's chief beekeeper, Medhat Nasr, told CBC News thefts were expected to rise as new diseases and parasites take an increasing toll on bee populations.

"If somebody did not take care of their bees … their winter kill will go sky high," Nasr said. "So, either you buy new bees or look for some other sources."

And last July, someone made off with half a million bees and 3,600 kilograms of honey from an operation near Abbotsford, in B.C.'s Fraser Valley, CBC News reported. The 48 bee colonies were worth an estimated $100,000.

Beekeeper John Gibeau said he suspects the thief was a small-time contract pollinator who rents out bees to farmers to help pollinate their crops.

Back in Ontario, the beekeeping community also suspects the thefts are committed by what honey producer Guy Anderson called a "slob beekeeper."

"It sounds like it is a beekeeper — and not a very good beekeeper — that’s lost everything, then stealing seven hives or something like that to build back up," he told the Star.

Critchell said police have told him there's not much hope they'll collar whoever rustled his queens. He's now locking the gate at the entrance of his farm, and also the storage containers that were targeted.

He's also installed security cameras, hoping to sting any future would-be thief.