Beehives and bees, thieves make their honey

Ten Normans graze without raising their noses. The surroundings of this Perche field have been very quiet for three weeks. No more buzzing, no incessant comings and goings of zebra insects. The sixteen beehives scattered around disappeared overnight with their inhabitants. The only vestige left are the recycled pallets and the old concrete bricks lying on a piece of lawn. Raymond Daman observes the show, head bowed: “We die, we struggle. And our work is going up in smoke… ”The 79-year-old amateur beekeeper had been pampering his bees for ten years. For them, he fought relentlessly against pesticides and Asian hornets. He would never have imagined running into another pest: the hive thieves.

Already last summer, four swarms had flown away.

“They had left everything behind.

Everything was on the floor, broken… ”recalls the volunteer with the white mustache.

A disaster for the vice-president of the Orne black bee conservatory who dreams of perpetuating this species "which has always been present in Europe".

“She was there long before the man.

"

To listen to him, the flights of bees have existed “since the dawn of time”.

“Among beekeepers, we've always heard these stories: a disappearance here, a loss there,” says Raymond behind the wheel of his truck, on his way to another apiary.

But for three, maybe four years, I have the impression that it explodes.

"

"My bees, it's sacred"

Difficult to estimate "the exact number" of disappearances each year, recognizes Frank Alétru, president of the Union of beekeepers of France, because all the victims "do not speak".

“But what has changed is the number of massive thefts, more than ten, fifteen beehives at a time.

Before, that didn't happen.

“Thus, at the beginning of March, in Occitania, the local union recorded 157 thefts from four professionals in less than a week.

"One of them lost 70 at once", worries Olivier Fernandez, head of the union.

Read also French beekeepers, prey to thieves and vandals

Each time, the discovery of the empty apiary freezes its owner.

Stéphane Balesdent mourned his forty colonies, which disappeared just before spring.

“My bees, it's sacred…, sobs the enthusiast.

I'm traumatized, I haven't stopped crying since.

»The amateur had installed them in the Bois des Gentelles, near Amiens (Somme).

Out of sight, "easier for thieves".

“It's violent, cowardly, in his Lorraine accent, Didier Rimlinger, Lorraine professional injured in twelve colonies in April.

It's as if someone took your dog away from you… ”In France, 60,000 professionals and amateurs pamper nearly 1.25 million beehives.

Up to 200 euros a swarm

Why are they so coveted? “The lure of gain,” breathes Raymond. Behind its appearance of a simple wooden cube, the structure alone costs 150 euros. Inside, the swarm sells for up to 200 euros. Not to mention the honey that the colony would have produced: up to 20 kg per year for the volunteers of Orne. At 15 euros per kilo, do the math… In the Somme, Stéphane Balesdent took out his calculator: the loss of his forty boxes cost him 30,000 euros. “I will never be able to do it again, I can't afford it. "

Cruel law of supply and demand.

Prices are skyrocketing at the rate the bees are disappearing.

Olivier Fernandez recalls the “35% mortality in France”.

It is an average.

At home, in Occitania, more than half perish each year.

It is the result of a deadly combination: pesticides, which pollinators forage in large fields, the Asian hornet, a large predator, and global warming.

In the gardens, there are hardly any natural swarms.

At the same time, demand is leaping.

Everyone wants to make their honey.

“It's fashionable to have a beehive at the back of the garden.

It's green, it's bobo, remarks Raymond Daman.

And then honey sells for more.

People are willing to put in another 50 cents because the pot comes from a local beekeeper.

"

Despite the thefts, Raymond Daman does not want to give up his voluntary activity.

LP / Dominique Breugnot

That afternoon, after a visit to the scene of the offense, the septuagenarian visited other of his "babies".

The conservatory still has 200 of them. Despite the bad experiences, Raymond “cannot give up”.

The retiree must place supers, "honey granaries", above the swarms.

He approaches the boxes without a combination because he "talks" to them.

The bites no longer frighten him.

With a flick of the lever, he removes the cover of the first box.

Insects flutter around him.

" They are wonderful !

"

From one increase to the next, Raymond chatters: “In a month, we will be able to harvest the honey. It is no coincidence that thefts are taking place right now. We are coming out of winter, beekeepers are seeing their losses. They want to fill them. By stinging those of others? In Alsace, at the beginning of June, an indelicate was caught up. It was a man, in his thirties, who wanted to start his activity. “We had received three complaints in a week, details a gendarme from Bitche (Moselle), the area where the accused used. It was a discovery for us. We had never been seized for this kind of thing. “Behind these misdeeds, very often hide colleagues. "You have to be equipped to do that, you have to know how to do it, have the equipment," observes Raymond.We saw it as a betrayal… ”What if they didn't act alone? Several beekeepers interviewed envisage the development of networks, in Portugal or in Eastern European countries.

Cameras, GPS trackers and a bill in preparation

They organize the response. First technique: protect yourself. In recent years, the apiaries, lost in the forest, out of sight, have been adorned with cameras and tracers. The French company Capturs has been marketing them for a few months. "Our sensors were created for athletes and industrial goods," says Arnaud Loulier, the general manager. A year and a half ago, beekeepers contacted us to discuss their problem. We understood that it was becoming a plague. The company thinks, adapts its sensors to the size of the swarm. Smaller, more resistant. “We have already sold a hundred. The object at 69 euros is fixed on the swarm and disappears under the cells of the foragers who build above. As soon as the swarm moves, its owner is notified by text message and knows its position in real time.

At the national union too, we are developing a tracer.

“We are organizing ourselves to equip the premises with cameras,” specifies Frank Alétru.

The president of the National Union "encourages" the pros to file a complaint, "even for a single hive".

The goal ?

"Carry out a flight map".

The beekeeper is convinced that the "gendarmes are starting to tackle the problem head on".

Read alsoHives under electronic surveillance to protect bees

The representative wants to believe in the repressive solution. “150 years ago, you could do two years in prison for stealing a beehive. Honey was the village pharmacy, it was precious, explains Frank Alétru. Today, thieves get small convictions, nothing to dissuade them. In the instances, we are considering proposing new, more “severe” laws. The president of the bee pros also wants to mobilize “Europe”. “If ever networks start to form, they must be nipped in the bud. "The survival of bees depends on it:" Without beekeepers, there will be no more. "