[The Soap Pixie]

I hope it was ok to post this year. This just happened.

On the highway, about 5 minutes from my house, a semi carrying numerous hives was in an accident and all the bees escaped, of course. In the video you see the fireman hosing down all the hives and you see all of the hives smashed on the highway Apparently they had to shut down a school nearby to keep children from being stung and police weren't even allowed to get out of their vehicles. People who saw said the bees were like a massive cloud.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2010/05/24/von.bee.truck.crash.kare.html

 

[stump56]

man those cars were really smashed wonder if the passengers are ok

 

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Were those your bees?

Kingfisher

 

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

What happened?

Kingfisher

 

[The Soap Pixie]

No, they aren't mine. Not sure who they belong to but I was told that Bauer (a bee company) told them to do the hosing down to calm the bees (?) Not sure if Bauer is the owner or if they were just consulted.

The news reported that one person died and the other is critical. Apparently the cause was construction work but it is still under investigation. Took them a good part of the day to clean up. That was a lot of bees. The news didn't say but they were headed south so I'm thinking they were being transported to the farms for pollination.

 

[MinnePchyolka]

Latest news reports say they were Bauer Co.'s bees, headed from Mississippi to North Dakota. Second passenger in the car has now died. A tragic situation.

I thought the reporters didn't do too bad a job, in that they didn't oversensationalize (is that a word?) the bee situation.

 

[The Soap Pixie]

A tragedy all around

Thanks for the update.

I agree (about the over sensationalizing). I was actually surprised it wasn't a big issue. My neighbor even felt sorry for the bees just because she knows I keep some.

 

[plaztikjezuz]

are you watching for swarms?

 

[Grant]

We had a similar wreck about two years ago in SE Missouri. The truck turned over in a roadside ditch in a remote and rural area. Thankfully, several local beekeepers rose to the challenge and were able to salvage 280 hives (70 pallets) of the 400 hives on the truck. Driver of the bee truck died prior to the crash.

Sadly, our local fire and police were woefully ignorant and unexperienced in such wrecks. The situation become much more sane when they left the scene and turned the situation to the beekeepers and the owner of the bees.

Grant
Jackson, MO

 

[The Soap Pixie]

I was wondering why they didn't call a bunch of local beekeepers, if anything to consult with on how best to deal with it.

I will keep an eye out for swarms. I even contemplated driving by where the accident was to see if any would have swarmed to the nearby trees, though I'd have to call someone to come and get it since I have no place to put any

 

[Adrian Quiney WI]

It was a truck from Bauer Honey. It and two cars were stuck in traffic when they were rear-ended by another semi. Adrian.

 

[The Soap Pixie]

Just read the latest. 17 million bees were being transported. (7,000 bee hives)

One of the stupid reports I read actually said the cause of death of one of the drivers was unknown. They weren't sure it was from the crash or being stung. Gotta luv the media.

 

[Barry Digman]

I think it was probably more like 400+- hives.

Hmmm. The news said 800 hives. I didn't know they hauled that many. Singles?

 

[The Soap Pixie]

Just repeating what all the news sources are reporting

Bauer is now estimating that each truck was carrying up to 18 million bees. I can't imagine.

http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_15151530?source=rss

Definitely must have been a site to see for those who saw it.

At least they salvaged what they could. Not a total loss.

Here is the report from the Minneapolis Star Tribune about the 7,000 hives.
http://www.startribune.com/nation/94761884.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Hmmm. The news said 800 hives. I didn't know they hauled that many. Singles?

17 rows = 816

 

[StevenG]

The commercial beek I bought some nucs and queens from earlier this month was hauling bees from MS to MN up I-55... he was hauling singles... about 800 per truck load I think he said. I saw a load pull out as I was getting my bees, and they were singles.

 

[Chick]

I bought a couple of hives from the Bauers last year, from where they winter their bees here in Texas. I hate to hear the misfortune of the drivers of the cars. I don't understand why the woman with the fire department said they should have used foam, instead of water, to just kill the bees.

 

[The Soap Pixie]

It wasn't a woman with the fire department who said that it was Marla Spivak (prof. of entomology at the U of M) that said it. Apparently the foam is designed to kill the bees instead of making them angry by just spraying them with water.

I've read several reports that stated Bauer wanted them sprayed with water to trick them into thinking it was raining, in essence, calm them :scratch: As a person who use to spray bees with water as a child (a time when I feared honeybees), water doesn't make for nice bees.

 

[cmbest]

The bees may not be nice after watering them, but as long as you have water on them, they will stay in the hive. Marla was suggesting to spray the foam on the ones that were off the truck, which makes sense. I'm wondering how they got a quote from her?? Weird!

 

[The Soap Pixie]

Ah, that makes sense then.