Beekeepers Hit By Thieves Looking To Cash In On Easy Honey

STANISLAUS COUNTY (CBS13) — Thieves are targeting beekeepers across Northern California, and the California State Beekeepers Association says many times the perpetrators are bee handlers themselves.

Beekeepers work hard to get their colonies healthy and ready to pollinate so when someone steals their bee hives it can cost them tens of thousand of dollars.

Orin Johnson is a second-generation beekeeper. In all his years in the business he's never seen the rash of hive thefts he's seen in the past three years.

"They were trying to steal my bees," he said.

In the most recent case the thieves were caught while loading his bees onto a truck in the middle of the night.

"They had nine hives on the truck at the time but the truck would have held 60 to 70," he said.

That would have translated into nearly a $20,000 dollar loss for him, he said. Add to that, the loss of revenue from pollination rental where Johnson loans his bees out to other orchards.

"Each hive can generate $300 to $500 in revenue per year," he said.

His losses have been tough, three in the last three years. But he has a beekeeper friend who has been hit harder.

'He had 200 stolen out of one location the Copperopolis area," he said. "Someone came in with a big truck. Loaded the whole yard up. That was probably a $60,000 to $70,000 hit for him."

Johnson says it's not the honey. it's strictly money.

"It's stealing the hives, the equipment, your potential revenue for the season. It's big time money," he said.

Since there's no way to brand a bee, it's not been easy to keep them safe. But Johnson says stepped up security is catching quite a few poachers.

Beekeepers say if you're caught stealing bees, you could face a felony conviction and time in jail.