Two minors are facing charges after a honey farm in Sioux City was vandalized last month, killing a half-million bees.

The Sioux City Police Department said in a news release Wednesday that the incident happened on Dec. 27 at Wild Hill Honey at 3400 W. 6th St.

"All of the beehives on the honey farm were destroyed and approximately 500,000 bees perished in the frigid temperatures," the release said.

The estimated cost of the damage was $60,000, police said.

On Wednesday, police arrested two boys, ages 12 and 13, each of whom faces charges of first-degree criminal mischief and agricultural animal facilities offenses, both class C felonies; third-degree burglary, a class D felony; and possession of burglar's tools, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Police have not released the names of the juveniles. No further arrests are expected.


https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/...led/1042142001/

I hope they get the book thrown at them. Bees are a very important part of crop pollination.

And honey is delicious.

I'd be curious to see what the end up with for charges when all said and done.

Seems overly serious charges for 12 and 13 year old boys. They should certainly know better but those charges could ruin their entire lives. Felonies make it pretty tough to get jobs, guns, probably even hard to get aid for advanced education. I guess I'd have to know what priors they had before I threw the book at them that hard. I think they should be punished though.

It won't ruin their lives. If they don't commit any violent crimes (or even if they do) It will be expunged or sealed when they are 18.

I think the parents should have some responsibility here.

I'm sure they'll have to pay the damages and the hefty attorney fees.

Absolutely. One of my kids even thought of pulling a stunt like that when they were young, they'd never have lived to see their next birthday. The parents should be responsible for full financial reimbursement. Anyone want to place bets on how "responsible" and "involved" these parents are with these kids?

As for their ages, that doesn't matter to me where criminal charges are concerned, kids younger than that in gangs these days commit murder.

Right, the original charges always sound harsh. Probably will get morphed into a seatbelt violation or something ridiculous. The fact of the matter is someone is out $60,000 and they are the victim.

Juvenile criminal histories are part of their criminal history even after becoming an adult. If they don't mess up again those can be expunged but if they do mess up or are a part of a criminal street gang, their juvenile record is preserved and listed as Juvenile Arrests and adjudications as per NCIC guidelines formatted by the FBI.

I didn't spend the time to read the details. But it seems like this guy is inflating his bees worth a bit to me. 500,000 bees at 30,000 bees per hive = about 17 hives give or take. 60k for the 17 hives gives them a worth of about $3500 each. I'll sell him my hives for half that. Heck a lot of the big guys around me blow their bees out, pull the honey and buy new packages in the spring. They don't even attempt to winter them anymore.
Now I don't condone the vandalism but theres someone taking advantage here to and over dramatising this imo.

Do yourself and us a favor and do read the details.

You are bringing up the same old earlier arguments in this thread. Read the story and say again "17 hives" You don't consider the loss of income from the original hives and time to establish new income with new hives. There is even a real loss from the business of losing past and current customers that need to go elsewhere for their commodity.

EDIT

I have to back off that position a bit. I just realized this is a new thread, not the original news story of the crime, before the offenders had been found.

If you go back to that post you will see the number of 50 hives destroyed and get a feeling of what losses might need to be considered in addition to just replacing the hives and fresh bees.

The link doesn't tell me anything different than above.

How many hives did he lose?

I do know wintering bees isn't what it used to be. Normal loss rates are 30-60% + around here.

See my edited post.

Cane the little punks and make them pay it all back however long it takes

Did some searches, looked at pictures, etc. He didn't lose all his equipment, drawn frames, etc..

I would bet he had 50 brood boxes tipped over, not 50 full hives. If he wintered with 2-3 deeps that puts it at the 17-25 hives depending how he winters. Then remember dead outs that he would have lost anyway.

Probably did have a fraction of the wax fall off the frame, and have damages. But not a ton from the videos and pictures. There would be some production loss. I paid $123 for 3lb packages.

I stick with my statement that 60k is a gross over evaluation. Stinks that he had the vandalism, but he'll be profiting with where the go fund me is at imo.

Did the bee keeper have insurance, and how much is the deductible?

Why do you ask?

I did a quick little research on Honeybee Hives and how much to get started fresh.

Buying JUST the hives, 10 frames deep (not stacked) is 3120.00, add the bees at 3# per package with a mated queen (100.00 average per 3#)and that is another 5000.00, that is just the purchase cost and nothing else, add in the wax, syrup to feed them, time to assemble and paint them and get them ready to use and produce Honey, wait one year to get the first harvest (letting the bees settle, use their supply of honey to winter out and survive and then start pulling honey out to sell in year two.

In a very good year, a single hive can produce up to 600.00 revenue x 50 hives that is 30,000.00, but that wouldn't come until the 2nd year after setting up the hives if that is a good year again. An experienced beekeeper can average 500.00 per hive per year with ease if he feeds them or has good forage for the bees.

Losing a customer base will hurt a lot because of the marketing involved to bring them back, so add in the new marketing costs and time to build a new customer base and re-establish at least some of the old base and the cost can vary widely but I would say 2 years marketing at a roughly 2500.00 per year or more so add 5000.00.

Many other factors abound that I haven't added in because I am not a beekeeper (yet) but I would say the first year alone for this beekeeper is a loss of roughly 40000.00, and depending on the time till first harvest and selling all stock it could very easily add 10-20000.00 more loss (including marketing and feeding plus time tending)

NOTE: I am not a beekeeper, I just looked up some articles on beekeeping for a guidance on cost and revenue generated per hive. I looked up the actual cost to buy new hives on Amazon and the bees to populate them. discounting marketing costs and time plus expenses to produce and sell those products means people do not understand that products do not make themselves nor do they sell themselves

I think 60k is a reasonable sum all things considered.

Don't know if is the same one but saw a report that stated the hives had diesel poured onto them as well. Bees are picky about things like diesel fuel fumes and the wood ware wouldn't be able to be used.Comb is fragile when cold and broken comb isn't a good start for package bees. With their shed broken into and equipment tossed out and smashed it could add up real quick. Extractors are far from something cheap.