Bee Girl’s Corner | A Detective Bee Girl Investigation | Episode 2
If you read Episode One, you will know that something visited our hive earlier this spring and removed the entrance reducer and left scratches in the wood and Mum got stung on the chin and I became a detective.
We thought it was a badger.
We were not entirely wrong. But we were not entirely right either.
There has been a development.
I love it when there is a development.
New Evidence
This is the thing about a proper investigation. You have to keep watching even when nothing is happening. Because nothing happening is also evidence. I learned that from a book. It is true.
We set up the trail camera. We watched the footage. We were very thorough.
We caught the chickens.
Approximately forty seven clips of the chickens doing chicken things. Walking. Pecking. Standing around looking important like they had somewhere to be. One clip of the dog sniffing a plant pot and losing interest immediately, which is very on brand for the dog.
No badger. No magpie. No mysterious overnight visitor leaving claw marks and chaos.
Just chickens.
Here is the thing. In a detective investigation, the absence of evidence is still evidence. The hive has not been touched since spring. No new marks. No missing parts. No furious bees. Nothing.
Which means one of two things.
Either whatever visited in spring decided not to come back.
Or the bees sorted it themselves.
I think it is the second one. Our bees are not the type to tolerate uninvited guests. They made that very clear to Mum’s chin. I was there. It was not subtle.
A New Suspect
Then Dad saw something.
Dad sees most things. This is useful because he is usually just drinking coffee and looking out of the window, which means he is accidentally doing surveillance without knowing it. I have not told him this. He would be very pleased with himself.
He saw a squirrel. Then he saw another one. Then another one.
Three squirrels.
Not one squirrel passing through on its way somewhere else. Three squirrels. In our garden. Near the chicken run. Near the treehouse. Near the hive.
Three.
I wrote it in my notebook three times with three underlines. That is how significant three is.
I have photographs.
This is Exhibit A. You can see the squirrel near the base of the chicken run if you look carefully. Bottom left. Small. Grey. Absolutely not supposed to be there. I spotted it immediately. Mum needed it pointed out to her twice.
This is Exhibit B. This is what the squirrel was actually looking at. You can see the chicken run clearly here. You can see the automatic feeder on the post. That feeder is full of chicken pellets. There may also be eggs.
I think we have been investigating the wrong crime entirely.
This happens in detective work sometimes. You think you are solving one thing and it turns out you are solving a completely different thing. I read that in a book too. I read a lot of books.
The Revised Suspect List
Let me talk you through my thinking. I have done a lot of thinking. Mum says I do too much thinking at bedtime but that is when the best thinking happens and I do not make the rules about when good ideas arrive.
Badger. Still possible for the spring incident. Badgers are strong and they will try anything when they are hungry. The claw marks were low down which fits. But badgers are not subtle and the trail camera would have caught one. It did not. Badger is not ruled out entirely but badger has moved down the list.
Magpie. Dad still says magpie. I would like to remind everyone that magpies come from above. The marks were at ground level. Dad is still wrong. Dad knows this. He has not said so out loud but I can tell.
Rat. Possible. Rats love chicken food. But a rat would be on the trail camera constantly and we have exactly zero rats on film. Also the scratches were too big for a rat. Ruled out. Goodbye rat.
Squirrel. Three confirmed in the garden this summer. Interested in the chicken run. Interested in the eggs. Interested in the feeder. And here is the thing. A hungry squirrel in the wrong season will try anything. A beehive full of stores is exactly the kind of thing a desperate squirrel would attempt when everything else runs short.
Grandad said squirrel from the beginning.
I am not saying Grandad was right.
I am saying the evidence is pointing very firmly in Grandad’s direction and I have been practising my face for the conversation where I have to tell him this. It is a very specific face. Neutral but respectful. I have been doing it in the mirror.
The Motive
This is what I think happened.
Mr Squirrel, and possibly his associates, found our garden. They found the chicken food. They found the eggs. They decided this was an excellent garden and they would be visiting regularly.
In spring when things were a bit lean they got braver. They tried the hive. The bees were not pleased. Not even slightly. The bees sent them packing and I respect that enormously because fifty thousand bees who did not ask for any of this have apparently also decided they are not a self service restaurant and I think that is a very reasonable position to take.
This summer the bees are strong. The colony is bigger. Mr Squirrel has been coming for the chickens instead and watching the hive and doing his own calculations.
He has decided the odds are not good enough yet.
The question is what happens when things get lean again.
We do not know the answer to that yet. This autumn will be the first real test. That is not a guess. That is a hypothesis. I know the difference.
The Sting Operation
We have a plan.
Step one. The trail camera is staying up. We repositioned it. We are watching. The chickens do not know they are part of a surveillance operation. I think it is better that way.
Step two. We have made some enquiries with people who know about squirrels in this part of Antrim. They have our number. We are waiting to hear back.
Step three. We wait for autumn. When the food gets harder to find and the hive looks tempting again, Mr Squirrel will have to make a decision.
And we will be watching when he does.
Mr Squirrel does not know that we know.
That is the point of a sting operation.
What I Think
I think it was always Mr Squirrel.
I think in spring he tried the hive and the bees sent him packing. I think this summer he has been coming for the chickens instead and watching the hive from a safe distance and doing the maths.
Autumn will be the tell.
Grandad has already said I told you so twice and we have not confirmed anything yet. I am keeping count. I have a tally in my notebook. It is already not looking good for Grandad’s humility.
The trail camera is ready.
Mr Squirrel does not know that we know.
I said that already. But it is worth saying twice.
To Be Continued.
Dad was wrong about the magpie again. He is taking it remarkably well for someone who has now been wrong about the magpie twice. Mum’s chin is fine. The bees are fine. Grandad is insufferable.
Bee Girl x