Beekeeping is not a cheap hobby, with a standard BS National hive costing in the region of £325.00 before you add bees, frames or wax foundation, and a nuc of bees currently selling for ~£200.00. So called “honey rustling” or hive theft appears to be on the increase.
As the majority of my hives are in what is known as ‘out apiaries’ (that is one’s away from your own property) I thought it prudent to start to mark my equipment. I have been using my old military name stamp to mark the frames, and now have a custom ‘branding iron’ to mark my hives and other equipment with.
I know anybody who really wants to can still steal the hives, but it might make them think twice, and will be much easier to identify them if recovered.
I just heat the brand with my blow torch and apply it to the equipment for marking. Looks good too, but maybe I need to let it burn in a bit longer.
