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Flooded hive what to do

4K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  mjfish1975 
#1 ·
My hive flooded last night in the monsoon here in sc Pa. Flash flood took it for a ride, but was able to recover it in the morning set it back up with as many bees that I could and put on a feeder. Two deeps and frames intact with bees alive somehow. They swarmed about six weeks ago and based on my calculations the new bees would start emerging this weekend. Just looking for ideas on what to do next. My thought was to let them settle down a bit and look for evidence of a queen (hope she is still there) and if not try to get a queen. What would be the chances of this hive surviving the winter, or should I cut my loses and start over next year?
 
#2 ·
If the queen managed to survive, you may have a chance of them surviving the winter. I would assume that the brood was too chilled to survive, but, hopefully, a surviving queen can rebuild the population before the cold sets in. Keep feeding until your observations tell you that it is futile.

Sorry about the problem with your hive, but more sorry about the problems your county has endured.

Wayne
 
#3 ·
You may be surprised how well they are. I helped pull 12 hives out of a canal one time, after they slid off of the deck of a truck. Picked up one cover and there was the queen. We got them ouit of the canal and set them out in a yard. Left them alone for a while and went back and dealt w/ what we had. Most were queen right and did well.
 
#4 ·
I hope you will be ok. You should know in a couple of days if the larva did make it. The remaining workers will pull the dead and dump them. Good that you are feeding them, that way they can put all their energy in fixing the hive and regaining strenght. I cross my fingers for your hive.
 
#8 ·
Hey Fish have you had a chance to evaluate your hive yet? The main thing is to check for your queen or signs that she is there. I know one keeper here in the county that had 5 hives floating. She was going to look at them this week to see how they were doing. I was lucky that my hives were all high enough (but my walk in freezer was not). The creek here was about 16 feet above the normal level and it was within a foot of taking at least one of my hives.

If your numbers are down, but your queen is OK, you could cut the hive back to one deep. With enough honey you could still winter a single deep. Even a nuc can be wintered here with some extra care.
Jim
 
#9 ·
Most of the week they were pretty agitated so I didn't want to go in yet, just giving them time to settle a bit and clean up. The large pile of dead brood in front seems to indicate most, if not all were lost. They've been taking syrup rather well but little pollen coming in. My gut tells me its not good but I am still hopeful. If it is the worst case I still should have two deeps fully drawn and a shallow to start over with next year, hoping its not. I'm thinking the numbers will be pretty low by now if I do have a queen or eggs a single deep sounds like a good idea.
 
#11 ·
Bees have been getting flooded for millions of years .We have had whole yards flooded with water halfway up the first deep super. As long as the bees are able to move up they will be O.K...You will loose your uncapped brood but sealed brood has a surprising ablility to survive a flash flood. Bees are very hairy creatures and in a flood situation, air forms a bubble around the individual bees trapped in those body hairs. They will slowly move up and out of harms way while in a watery situation. AS long as the flood is a quick one and the oxygen in the air bubble around the bees last, the bees as Mark has already stated will surprise you by surviving. You will have to clean out any sand or debris that might have washed into the hive itself. You might have to beat the grit and dust out of some of the combs. Good Luck...TED
 
#12 ·
Good news we have a queen. I did not see her but my wife said she saw eggs. There still is some brood mostly uncapped but close to being capped and some capped. Bad news the population really took a hit. They seem to be using only the front half of the top deep. The rest is mainly untouched (alot of debris). Cleaned what I could, mostly the larger sticks and leaves and I am still feeding 2:1 to try to build up their stores. I am thinking I might need to reduce them down to only 1 deep for the winter. Any suggestions to help them overwinter.
 
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