Poppy's Garden Bee Hive Appeal
Donation protected
Poppy is 8 and she's mad about bees.
2 years ago they did a topic on bees at school and she loved learning all about bees and pollination.
For her birthday that summer (2019) she asked for a bee keeping experience for her present (which was a surprise as I was expecting her to ask for toys!).
We took her to Sinnah Common Honey in Hayling Island and Jon Gedin, who Poppy adores, took us to see his hives and bees. Even though she got stung she was hooked and by the time we got home she was asking to keep bees.
Her dad explained it would be expensive so she came up with a plan – she spent her birthday money on compost and seeds, and grew lots of flowers in our garden, like sunflowers and lavender, and then she held a sale outside our house last summer. With the money she made her and her dad started a list of all the things they’d need.
Poppy wanted to share what she was doing so we set up a Facebook page, Poppy’s Garden, and lots of incredibly kind and generous people donated various things like the hive, hive tools, hand made frames, even a nucleus of bees! We were blown away by the generosity of the bee keeping community who were so happy to support a little girl who loves bees.
Lee and Poppy took care of the bees through the autumn and winter, checking they were protected and had food to see them through. They thrived, and this April it was finally warm enough to do the first inspection. The brood were doing brilliantly well with frames almost full of wax and lots of cells of brood, and food for the baby bees Queen Luna had produced.
Then this morning they went to check the hive (last visit was Thursday lunch time) and the hive was gone. The stand is there, just the hive and all the bees were taken. A few lost little bees left behind will die now too.
The thieves planned this theft, knew how to avoid the security cameras, and broke through a fence and an electric fence to take them. What we are really hoping is that even though they stole the hive, that they take care of the bees. Bad people might not care about the bees and if they die and that would be so very sad.
Poppy’s had some really lovely messages of support and a few have even offered to help her start again. I (Poppy’s step mum) set up a go fund me page so she can start again.
Thanks so much for caring xxx
2 years ago they did a topic on bees at school and she loved learning all about bees and pollination.
For her birthday that summer (2019) she asked for a bee keeping experience for her present (which was a surprise as I was expecting her to ask for toys!).
We took her to Sinnah Common Honey in Hayling Island and Jon Gedin, who Poppy adores, took us to see his hives and bees. Even though she got stung she was hooked and by the time we got home she was asking to keep bees.
Her dad explained it would be expensive so she came up with a plan – she spent her birthday money on compost and seeds, and grew lots of flowers in our garden, like sunflowers and lavender, and then she held a sale outside our house last summer. With the money she made her and her dad started a list of all the things they’d need.
Poppy wanted to share what she was doing so we set up a Facebook page, Poppy’s Garden, and lots of incredibly kind and generous people donated various things like the hive, hive tools, hand made frames, even a nucleus of bees! We were blown away by the generosity of the bee keeping community who were so happy to support a little girl who loves bees.
Lee and Poppy took care of the bees through the autumn and winter, checking they were protected and had food to see them through. They thrived, and this April it was finally warm enough to do the first inspection. The brood were doing brilliantly well with frames almost full of wax and lots of cells of brood, and food for the baby bees Queen Luna had produced.
Then this morning they went to check the hive (last visit was Thursday lunch time) and the hive was gone. The stand is there, just the hive and all the bees were taken. A few lost little bees left behind will die now too.
The thieves planned this theft, knew how to avoid the security cameras, and broke through a fence and an electric fence to take them. What we are really hoping is that even though they stole the hive, that they take care of the bees. Bad people might not care about the bees and if they die and that would be so very sad.
Poppy’s had some really lovely messages of support and a few have even offered to help her start again. I (Poppy’s step mum) set up a go fund me page so she can start again.
Thanks so much for caring xxx
Organizer
Claire Byrne
Organizer
England
