Northland school's beloved beehive stolen just before queen bee arrived

Beehive crime is on the rise, with a growing number of hives being stolen in recent years.

The latest in a spate of thefts has left the students of Pouto Primary School without their beloved beehive.

Budding beekepers with a bizarre beehive theft on their hands. 

"We wanted some honey, cause we love honey on our toast," one of the students told Newshub.

The students wanted to learn about community by tending their own bee hives, but before they could get started, their hive has been stolen and they've put out a plea on social media.

"We made it, yeah we did we put a lot of effort in to it," a student told Newshub.

It's been the students' main project all year, now it's a talking point for a different reason.

"They must have came up in the park and stole it," one student said.

"It's gone and we feel a hole where the beehive was," principal Melissa Jackson told Newshub.

The hive has been taken from the entrance where it sat for months, the school was just waiting to get a queen bee to get the bee community thriving.

"To have someone in our space help themselves we had worked so hard on was quite affecting for the children quite upsetting," Ms Jackson said. 

"If you see it could you please give it back - don't destroy it," one student said.

Their new school project? The mystery of the missing beehive.

Newshub.