Stolen Beehive Fund
Donation protected
Hello, this is Jana from Bike a Bee. Last year, I set up two hives in the McKinley Park Community Garden. One for my organization, and one for a member of the garden, Erasmo.
Erasmo had kept bees in Mexico but had yet to care for them in Chicago. I helped out and sold him a fully set up hive. That year, all of the surplus honey that Erasmo's hive produced was sold to benefit the garden.
Both hives died over the winter, so this spring, Erasmo and I both decided to restart. This time, Erasmo decided to start two hives instead of one. I started just one.
Unexpectedly, one of Erasmo's hives died. Both of the others were still trucking along, although, my queen died and had to be replaced.
On Sunday, I got a call from Theresa, Erasmo's wife. She said the hives were gone. Completely gone. All that was left was the cinderblocks they sat upon. We speculated who could do this, and I immediately thought "whoever did this KNEW what they were doing."
Stealing live bees has been on the rise for commercial beekeepers on the west coast, but I never thought it would come to the urban environment. We kept the bees at the fenceless McKinley Park garden because I always banked on the idea that the bees have their own built-in security system. It is a box full of stinging insects, after all.
Now that this has happened to us, I will no longer be placing hives at fenceless gardens. Still, we collectively lost $640 worth of equipment and live bees, not to mention our time and the loss of this year's honey.
Please help Erasmo and I recoup the cost of this loss. We both want to re-start!
Erasmo had kept bees in Mexico but had yet to care for them in Chicago. I helped out and sold him a fully set up hive. That year, all of the surplus honey that Erasmo's hive produced was sold to benefit the garden.
Both hives died over the winter, so this spring, Erasmo and I both decided to restart. This time, Erasmo decided to start two hives instead of one. I started just one.
Unexpectedly, one of Erasmo's hives died. Both of the others were still trucking along, although, my queen died and had to be replaced.
On Sunday, I got a call from Theresa, Erasmo's wife. She said the hives were gone. Completely gone. All that was left was the cinderblocks they sat upon. We speculated who could do this, and I immediately thought "whoever did this KNEW what they were doing."
Stealing live bees has been on the rise for commercial beekeepers on the west coast, but I never thought it would come to the urban environment. We kept the bees at the fenceless McKinley Park garden because I always banked on the idea that the bees have their own built-in security system. It is a box full of stinging insects, after all.
Now that this has happened to us, I will no longer be placing hives at fenceless gardens. Still, we collectively lost $640 worth of equipment and live bees, not to mention our time and the loss of this year's honey.
Please help Erasmo and I recoup the cost of this loss. We both want to re-start!
Organizer
Jana Kinsman
Organizer
Chicago, IL