We had a tornado go through the area on Thursday night/ Firady morning. Just my luck it decided to take my hives :evil: I found one of the hives, two deeps and one medium, still attached together and laying beside the blocks. I found one deep by the other blocks and one deep out about 200 yards. All three hives were 2 deeps and at least 1 super. Yep I said three :-X The hive that was in the middle is completly gone....... I drove for a ways and never saw any signs. Another odd thing is, the big hive that was still together had to be carried by two of us last week. I was able to pick it up all by myself today :? Did the tornado spin out the honey or why might it be so light now? Well Im luckier than others that lost their houses :'( so I am thankful.
P.S. I have no lids for the hives that I peiced together. I laid a piece of plywood over so I hope that works for now
Sorry to hear that Shawn,I am from Okla. cant say i miss the tornadoes,have lived in Oregon for a lot of years,long winters and rain but spring and summer is nice,i have a nephew living in Colorado Springs.Hope you find more of your hives and parts and pieces,lots of luck. :?
Sorry about your bees Shawn. In the grand scheme of things, at least bees can be replaced. On a side note, I didn't know that tornados were a common occurrence in Colorado?
As for why your hive was so light, it's probably because the nectar dripped out. Nectar has the consistency of water in the spring and will quickly drain from cells when tipped. Once the bees evaporate the water, it obviously flows much more slowly...like honey.
Quote from: Shawn on April 28, 2012, 11:29:32 PM
I found one of the hives, two deeps and one medium, still attached together and laying beside the blocks.
Wow, the power of propolis! Tornadoes are scary things. We had one pass directly over our house a few years ago. Lost lots of trees, but nobody was injured. I'm glad you came through it. And you have some great beekeeper stories to tell now. :-D
Tornadoes are a common thing in eastern Colorado during spring and early summer. The propolis is the only thing I can think of that held the one hive together. I found quite a few frames hanging on the barbwire fence. The wire was in the middle of the frames. I should have taken phtos. Its like someone cut the frame in half, half way through and hung the frame on the wire. Sad thing is when I was out gathering the frames I noticed the brood patterns were so nice.
Quote from: Shawn on April 28, 2012, 11:29:32 PM
<snip> Another odd thing is, the big hive that was still together had to be carried by two of us last week. I was able to pick it up all by myself today :? Did the tornado spin out the honey or why might it be so light now? Well Im luckier than others that lost their houses :'( so I am thankful.
Possibly the hive was robbed out by other bees once it was exposed?
Best wishes to you and your neighbors on the recovery.
Ed
And another round of tornados. I have to go check the hives again tomorrow. I think I need to find a different spot for them because the one I picked has been hit twice now in a month :-x
So sorry Shawn, I wish you the best.