Nov 21 2008
Free Bees II- Bee Harder
Poor bees. Not only are they disappearing at a terrifying rate, but whenever they do set up a home and try and get comfortable someone tries to give them or their hive away for free on Craigslist. Like this guy:
I just found out we had this hive last night after work. I don’t have time or interest in messing with it. The pic was taken yesterday closest to the edge of deck. Had I had the courage to pan over to the right and take another picture you would have another 12 feet of comb running along three spacings between the framing. Some comb hanging down two feet long! Total area of comb 36 square feet? But there could be two hives under there from what it looks like.
My wife is terribly allergic to bees. I hear there are africanized bees in San Diego now, so if you want to split the honey 50/50 and your remove the comb and all let me know.
Personally, I don’t think this sounds like a very good deal. You have to come to this guy’s house, remove the hive for free, and you only get to keep “half” the honey??? I think normally you have to pay people to remove bee hives, especially if you fear they are dangerous “Africanized” bees. If any honey is involved, I think the person that risked their life with dangerous bee removal gets to keep it.
I decided to email this guy to see if he was really hung-up on the 50/50 honey situation, letting him know I would remove the bees, but I was unlikely to let him keep the honey if I did. “I’ll take care of your bees,” I wrote, “but I want ALL the honey. Is this okay?” I have yet to hear back, but I will let you know if I do. If push comes to shove I am willing to negotiate a 30/70 honey situation, but no less. We’ll see…
4 responses so far
How about letting him hold onto half the honey, but you get to take any single item from his home as payment?
Better yet, I’ll get rid of his bees… but he needs to promise me his first born son!
If he’s unwilling to negotiate on actual ownership of his firstborn son, consider asking for the naming rights, and then name the kid Rumpelstiltskin.
Are you really going to start keeping bees? You are my hero.
Sadly your post reminded me of a story I stumbled on a week or so ago.
This guy heard some bee type buzzing noises coming from under his BBQ. Instead of investigating at all, he decided to devise a roach bomb strapped to rake and set it off under the BBQ cover. I found the results quite disturbing. You can see the pictures and story here (http://imagenebula.com/?task=view&id=2149) if you have the stomach for it. Gruesome. Truly gruesome.
After reading your post I tried to look up the original story and also found these two follow-up articles (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=665338 and http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=664953)
Seriously though, were you going to try to get the bees? Are you turning into Chuck?
But for the guy in the aforementioned Craigslist ad, maybe he is new to this whole bee thing, is wholly unaware of the vanishing bee population, and this is his first time brokering bee removal. It reminds me of the first time I valeted my car. How much are you supposed to tip those guys anyway? Better to start from a negotiating point than be stuck with nothing once the bees are gone? For all he knows someone could make a lot of money off those bees and they should be paying him. Or maybe he was just greedy.