Hi all,
This morning I awoke to two missing hives.
At first I thought that they had been stolen, there was no sign of any kit and the bales of straw that they had been sitting on had vanished; however strangely no sign of any break into the field.
Then it dawned on me that maybe the small brook at the end of the field had burst its banks and floated them away, but the field has never flooded. However Storm Dennis had just visited us and caused flooding else where, so the hunt along the river bank began.
After entering the farmers fields next door, at the very end I found not one, but both hives washed into the bank in a huge pile of flotsam.
The poly hive was on its side, still strapped to its stand.
The other one was buried upside down in three pieces, unfortunately with the floor in a different pile of flotsam.
Now I have spend the whole day trying to rescue them, with one arm in a plaster cast (a story for another time). I have been trying to dry them out in my conservatory with a hot air blower and shaking out the waterlogged frames.
Amazingly quite a few have survived their white water rafting trip, but I now find that they don't seem to be clustering all together in the same place and I have no idea if there is a queen left in the hive. Plus they have now taken over the conservatory.
Only my second year of beekeeping, what an adventure this hobby is turning out to be !!!!
So what should I do next, help please .........
Cheers
Al
This morning I awoke to two missing hives.
At first I thought that they had been stolen, there was no sign of any kit and the bales of straw that they had been sitting on had vanished; however strangely no sign of any break into the field.
Then it dawned on me that maybe the small brook at the end of the field had burst its banks and floated them away, but the field has never flooded. However Storm Dennis had just visited us and caused flooding else where, so the hunt along the river bank began.
After entering the farmers fields next door, at the very end I found not one, but both hives washed into the bank in a huge pile of flotsam.
The poly hive was on its side, still strapped to its stand.
The other one was buried upside down in three pieces, unfortunately with the floor in a different pile of flotsam.
Now I have spend the whole day trying to rescue them, with one arm in a plaster cast (a story for another time). I have been trying to dry them out in my conservatory with a hot air blower and shaking out the waterlogged frames.
Amazingly quite a few have survived their white water rafting trip, but I now find that they don't seem to be clustering all together in the same place and I have no idea if there is a queen left in the hive. Plus they have now taken over the conservatory.
Only my second year of beekeeping, what an adventure this hobby is turning out to be !!!!
So what should I do next, help please .........
Cheers
Al
..good on you for getting them back home and back together especially with a cast on one of your arms (i spent a swarm season with one on and it is not good) ..it is in the hands of the gods now but lets hope they pull safe..keep us updated.
