Flooding in Atlanta washes away beehives

JWPick · September 21, 2009, 11:33:25 PM

Sincere condolences Linda! :'(

VTnewbee · September 22, 2009, 08:10:05 AM

I'm so sorry you lost your hives. That's heartbreaking! Here's hoping you find a swarm or two after the waters recede! (This is totally off the topic but I wanted to thank you for your great crush and strain video. I did my first harvest ever this past weekend and all went great!)

MacfromNS · September 22, 2009, 08:15:09 AM

I'm so so sorry for your loss. I'm glad that you did not get wiped right out , it will help take your mind off the ones you lost. :'(

BeeHopper · September 22, 2009, 09:20:08 AM

Tillie,

Sorry for the loss :( but don't look back, Nature will do such things to test our Resolve :-\ You'll bounce back :)

BH

sc-bee · September 22, 2009, 09:31:37 AM

Wow, sorry for your loss Linda. I knew ya'll were getting rain but had no idea! I didn't realize how much until I heard on the news today the schools were closed.

Best of luck in recovery!

tillie · September 22, 2009, 09:34:34 AM

What a wonderful group this forum is - it is so dear of you to give me so much support and so many kind comments.

Atlanta is a mess and people have died as well as roads and bridges collapsed. We'll recover - it is the city of the phoenix - but it is a mess today and more rain on the way.

Linda T

Irwin · September 22, 2009, 10:15:07 AM

My heart go's out to you I'm sorry to hear about your loss :'(

charmd2 · September 22, 2009, 10:17:22 AM

I've heard all the news reports, and it is so sad. I'm sorry about your bees

vermmy35 · September 22, 2009, 10:33:56 AM

Oh my, I am so, so sorry to hear about your losses. That is a terrible thing that is going on down there, last year no rain and now this year way too much rain. Keep your head up and I hope you get your hives back up and running soon. :-\

tillie · September 22, 2009, 10:42:34 AM

Julia, my friend who also had hives at Blue Heron, just sent me a text that she and some friends are up to their knees in Nancy Creek over by Chastain Park and are rescuing hive boxes that got caught on the banks there as the creek is receding. They have found and rescued my two yellow hive boxes and several white boxes but so far not her beautifully, artistically painted boxes with bees and leaves all on them. Obviously no bees and I don't know if they found frames in the boxes or not.

I'm at work and can't help her, but it's amazing that they have found these boxes.

Linda T

luvin honey · September 22, 2009, 12:10:13 PM

That really, really stinks. It is so frustrating to go from one extreme to another, both of them destructive.

I'm glad you have the tiny bright point of finding some hive bodies!

ziffabeek · September 22, 2009, 12:30:21 PM

Oh no! I'm so sorry :(. I live in Atlanta too and have been worried about the beehives around town. Mine are at the back of our yard, but our ground is pretty high so they are doing ok. I can't say the same for our basement. I can't believe all of this water.

I'm very sorry for your loss Tillie, I would still look for the bees. You never know, wild things often know stuff we don't and maybe something told them to get out while they could. Good luck to you and let us know how it ends up.

love,
Ziffa

tillie · September 22, 2009, 06:13:07 PM

Julia and I went over to Blue Heron. The water has receded and the creek is back in its banks. I have never been so muddy - I don't think my beesuit will recover although I'm washing it in Chlorox!

We found her deep hive box in the bushes on the bank of the creek and my whole hive there....well the two hive bodies, anyway. No bottom board, top, inner cover, etc. The frames were PITIFUL. Dead bees covered in mud head down in the frames and mud all over everything.

We had called Cindy Bee who told us that we should try to give the bees who were wandering around a home. I took a nuc box with dry drawn frames and set it up on the cinder blocks - which were still there. We put a quart of honey in a boardman feeder on the top of the hive to lure the homeless bees. No worry about robbing now.

Julia put her hive full of muddy frames up with the top on it, but there was little capped honey in it and not many bees hanging around it.

We'll see what happens. If we collect any bees, we'll bring them home and combine them with our home hives.

Linda T

bud1 · September 22, 2009, 08:40:35 PM

Mam; you send me a coupla oof those package boxes in early spring and I will send you a coupla swarms--

G3farms · September 22, 2009, 09:54:17 PM

bud1 you are the man, now that is the spirit of this board.

miss linda sorry to hear of you losses, just remember spring is not far off and you can start all over, at least you found some of the wooden ware. everything will work itself out.

G3

tillie · September 22, 2009, 11:54:41 PM

I've put a post on the blog if anyone wants to see pictures:

http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2009/09/homes-for-homeless-bees.html

Linda T

Michael Judd · September 22, 2009, 11:58:40 PM

Linda,
I am very sorry for you and your bees.
you have given so much pleasure with your site and confidence we all feel for you
love
Michael

annette · September 23, 2009, 12:34:19 AM

Linda

You know how I sympathize with your loss. You started beekeeping the same month and year as me. You have been a great source of inspiration to me all these years and I have copied so many of your beekeeping techniques.

You are a very sensitive women and I know you must be imagining how the poor bees struggled through this tragedy. That is how my mind would be working for sure.

I wish you much strength and peace of mind to continue on your beekeeping journey and to overcome the sadness you are feeling right now.

Sincerely
Annette

Lone · September 27, 2009, 04:40:23 AM

Hello Tillie,

Sorry to hear about your bees. We are 6 months ahead of you, and the floods at the beginning of the year have just left a few marks such as patched up roads, the first cattle ticks here for years, a full hay shed, and now a potentially very bad bushfire season. The water must also have revived the trees, and the malaleuca certainly blossomed well.

At the time, people were getting bridge fever because they couldn't get to the next town. The mayor ordered in supplies as soon as the railroad was fixed, and all that was brought in on the train were cases of beer and a saddle. He was riled, but it was funny at the time. A beehive was also found in a tree. The river came up to the second highest mark since records were taken.

The old fellows here remember the good wet seasons from their childhood, when it rained for 6 weeks without hardly stopping. They know where to place the hives away from the floods, and they look in disbelief when someone builds a house in a flood zone. It was sad at the time with the bees unable to bring in supplies, because they would all wash away. I didn't know if they would get through it. I'll show you a couple of photos from the rainy time, and a photo from now.

I'm not sure how much rain we had. If I can find the record, I might add it up for you. I hope you can get some new hives going.

Lone

hollybees · September 27, 2009, 01:30:48 PM

Linda,
Those pictures are hard to look at, I can't imagine what it must be like to have witnessed it 1st hand.

What will you do to rebuild? Is there higher ground or would a higher platform work.

I would be willing to contribute some supers.
Good Luck to you and I'm sorry for your losses!

Paul