Flooded hives

[sean-a]

I have had some hives flooded and have lost the bees.
The hives were washed off the stands, some were strewn over the field and recovered and others are heading down to the Bristol channel,
I have recovered some of the boxes and have been through them and shaken the drowned bees off the comb and shaken the worst of the water out of the comb.

Lots of the bees have crawled into the comb, and died, so it wasn't possible to shake them out of the comb.
Quite a lot of capped honey too.
It seems a waste to lose all the comb and honey.
Ideally I would like to feed the honey back to the bees and let them clean up the comb in the spring, but am worried about the dead bees.

Do you think that this would be OK or should I scrap the comb and honey?

 

[Curly green finger's]

I have had some hives flooded and have lost the bees.
The hives were washed off the stands, some were strewn over the field and recovered and others are heading down to the Bristol channel,
I have recovered some of the boxes and have been through them and shaken the drowned bees off the comb and shaken the worst of the water out of the comb.

Lots of the bees have crawled into the comb, and died, so it wasn't possible to shake them out of the comb.
Quite a lot of capped honey too.
It seems a waste to lose all the comb and honey.
Ideally I would like to feed the honey back to the bees and let them clean up the comb in the spring, but am worried about the dead bees.

Do you think that this would be OK or should I scrap the comb and honey?

I would probably cut the good comb out that has honey and extract and process the wax
The rest I would scrap unless you can get the dead bees out ?
Clean frames and rewax

Sorry to hear you’ve lost bees to the floods sean

 

[pargyle]

Goodness ... that's dreadful. The recent floods have caught a lot of people out - a local car park, which has never flooded, was 2 feet under water when a pumping station for the canal failed - several parked cars were submerged above their floor level with, no doubt, significant damage done.

In terms of re-use of the frames ... the capped frames should be OK .. the bees are remarkably adept at cleaning frames up and capped honey will be fine. If they have been submerged in flood water I'd be inclined to rinse them in clean water and put them somewhere to dry (I don't think I'd extract and eat the honey until the bees have had the frames back and done their clean up - you never know what is in flood water. A pair of tweezers and a few hours patiently picking the dead ones out of the cells will give the bees less to do ... sometimes a gentle brush will get a lot of them out before you have to resort to the tweezers.

 

[Murox]

I agree with Pargyle, wash and dry then reuse.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

dry the frames out, then hold the frame by one lug and gently but rapidly tap the frame (but not the other lug) against a wall corner or vertical surface (a fence or gate post is good) and the bees in the cells will gradually come out

 

[Sutty]

A vacuum cleaner nozzle night help get most of the bees out of the combs.
Alternatively if you have space in a freezer to put them in you could use that them and give them back to the bees a few at a time to clean up in spring.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Oh I’m so sorry to hear that.
With all this rubbish weather I’ve sadly been expecting somebody to post losses.

 

[JamezF]

Very sad I'd not be surprised to find quite a few affected beeks this Winter given how widespread the flooding seems to have been.

James

 

[sean-a]

Thanks, I had not thought of freezing the frames, that is a good idea.
Getting them home and rinsing with fresh water before shaking the water out was what I planned, at least that would get the worst of the mud off and out of the cells.
Would not use the honey other than to feed the bees, or possibly get them to move it later in the spring.

 

[B_north]

So sorry to hear of this, hoping for the best for all of those affected. I watched it yesterday on our news and it looks pretty bad.

 

[Garry R]

Sorry to hear about that. The Somerset levels look awful too but guess that the beekeepers there are well aware and have the bees above the flood plain. I do wonder how Noah managed starting with just two bees - maybe Mount Ararat was a cracking site for an apiary. Best of luck and hope you find a nice dry site for the newcomers.

 

[juno]

Very sorry to see what’s happened to you and your bees Sean.

All I’ll add is just be mindful there could have been sewage, oils & fuel in the floodwater.

This may or may not impact the future health of your bees.

However you choose to proceed I wish you all the best.

 

[sean-a]

It looks like the bees must have dived into the cells to get a last gulp of oxygen
The comb looks like a severe case of starvation with comb full of dead bees
Will spray the frames with a dilute bleach solution and then rinse with fresh water and shake out the frames a couple of times before drying them in the garage with a fan blowing air over them for a couple of days. Then freeze what I can.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

maybe the best move would be towards the bonfire

 

[Curly green finger's]

maybe the best move would be towards the bonfire

But not all of it

 

[Erichalfbee]

maybe the best move would be towards the bonfire

Yes. I would save the boxes but incinerate the frames

 

[Curly green finger's]

Yes. I would save the boxes but incinerate the frames

Maybe a bit rash the frames would be good to keep.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

 

[Erichalfbee]

Maybe a bit rash the frames would be good to keep.

Not rash at all. It’s sensible. It’s my opinion. I wouldn’t be happy doing it.

 

[Karol]

Sorry to hear about that. The Somerset levels look awful too but guess that the beekeepers there are well aware and have the bees above the flood plain. I do wonder how Noah managed starting with just two bees - maybe Mount Ararat was a cracking site for an apiary. Best of luck and hope you find a nice dry site for the newcomers.

Noah could've done us a favour. Like overlooking varroa, hive beetles and velutina!