Highway abuzz with millions of bees after semitruck tips

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

LYNNWOOD, Wash. (AP) — A semitruck carrying millions of honeybees overturned on a highway north of Seattle early Friday, scattering hives and sending white-suited beekeepers scrambling to save as many insects as they could.

The truck had just merged onto Interstate 5 around 3:30 a.m. when it tipped on its side, dumping its load of 448 hives, or about 13.7 million bees, Washington State Patrol Trooper Travis Shearer said. The driver, a 36-year-old man from Idaho, was not hurt.

The company that owns the insects, Belleville Honey and Beekeeping Supply of Burlington, sent beekeepers to recover as many as possible, and bees covered their protective suits as they worked.

The bees became more active as the sun rose and the weather warmed, and firefighters had to spray a layer of foam on some of the boxes, killing the insects for safety.

FULL story and photo gallery at link.



Workers clean up after a semi truck filled with over 400 behaves overturned on Interstate 5 in Lynnwood, Wash on Friday, April 17, 2015. The truck had just merged onto Interstate 5 around 3:30 a.m. when it tipped on its side, dumping its load of 448 hives, or about 13.7 million bees, Washington State Patrol Trooper Travis Shearer said. The driver was not hurt. The bees became more active as the sun rose and the weather warmed, and firefighters had to spray a layer of foam on some of the boxes, killing the insects for safety. (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com via AP)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5530ef6e11a14d5cab2ec0bc15c038a1/highway-abuzz-bees-after-semitruck-tips-dumps-hives

[Calista241]

1. Sometimes, stuff happens that just amazes me. Lol. n/t

[uppityperson]

2. local news advises people to keep windows rolled up as they drive through the area to bee safe,

they were pretty buzzy, trying to rescue as many as they could.

[christx30]

4. Hive never seen a funnier bee post. n/t

[uppityperson]

6. Thanks, honey

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. "Firefighters had to spray foam... killing the insects for safety"

How stupid.

Glad the driver wasn't hurt...so he can be arrested.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-world-without-honeybees-2013-6

[A Little Weird]

8. Arrested?

Did I miss something? Usually people aren't arrested for accidents.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. People are OFTEN arrested for accidents: driving too fast, drunk, suspended

licenses, aggressive driving... the list is nearly endless. Not sure what you mean.

If a tractor trailer truck overturns on an on ramp in the middle of the night, it is most likely excessive speed...

Maybe nothing chargeable. Maybe the guy just fell asleep at the wheel.

[A Little Weird]

11. But there was nothing in the article

That indicated he had done anything other than have an accident. Nothing about speeding or driving drunk or anything else. So I wondered if you had additional info about the case that would lead you to suggest he should be arrested.

[FailureToCommunicate]

13. You are correct

there was nothing in the article about cause. Just supposition on my part...and wishful thinking. (Agriculture AND highway safety concerns)

[ripcord]

14. Sometimes it just happens

There is a ramp locally I have to take really slow in my truck because it is banked badly, I can't count the number of times I have seen trucks overturned on it.

[sadoldgirl]

5. Why use foam to kill them

instead of vacuuming them up as beekeepers did at my place
when a wild swarm tried to settle in my front yard. Bees are
precious and should be protected.

It does not hurt to close the Interstate for a few hours to
save the insects.

[JudyM]

12. Absolutely. Pesticides etc are seriously depleting their numbers... and we need them badly. nt

[sweetapogee]

16. are you a bee keeper?

If not you should start your own backyard operation.Then you can become proactive in this cause which is of course a noble enterprise.

We had three (3) swarms last year. The first was in early summer, the last two in early fall. I doubt any of the bees would have survived the winter outside the hive. Maybe the bees in the first swarm but way too late for the last two. I would estimate that we lost 400,000 bees total. This just one small backyard operation. But still we have 9 active hives and are adding two more this Saturday when we pick up 6 pounds of package bees. We are at our self imposed limit for bees but anyone can start and now is the time, if you hustle. But if not, there is always next year.

[hedgehog]

17. I'm thinking of offering a bit of our pasture/lawn for bee hives

I don't have the cash to make the initial investment myself. The question is, if my husband uses the riding mower to trim the grass around the hive, will the bees get alarmed and sting?

[sweetapogee]

21. a little too late for this year

But plan ahead for next year. It will cost a couple hundred dollars for a starter kit and a hundred or so dollars for your package bees. You will not get any honey for a year if you buy package bees. It is possible that you can get an established colony from a local bee keeper willing to sell frames with drawn comb, bees and a queen. Worth looking into as you could start this year and get honey also. We use sugar water to get them started so that is a cost. Two or more hives are generally better than one.

We mow the grass near the bees and while it gets them excited they generally keep to themselves. Like most things we don't save any money as we consider it a hobby. We do harvest enough to package and sell but I seriously doubt that we break even. I have a friend that has 80+ hives and he has a positive cash flow out of it, but his wife and he hustles. But for us it's just a hobby.

BTW, the loss of a million + bees as noted in the OP is really not that big a deal in the overall scope of things. There are many millions of bees in just my county alone being raised by small scale hobbyist beekeepers like ourselves. From my limited viewpoint, the big problem with accidents where bees escape is the inconvenience of having the bees swarm and set up residence in someones attic, where they are not wanted. The swarms we had were probably all fatal to our bees because they wouldn't have had enough time to make enough honey to survive the winter.

[JudyM]

18. No, but a close family friend is.

Really disheartening to hear about that truck overturning and losing so many.

I'm also deathly allergic (didn't develop that till adulthood for some reason) and have to carry an epipen. Even so, I don't destroy their nests when I find them around my yard... risky but ... I'm going on blind faith.

Huge kudos to you for raising them! Good luck this year.

[SummerSnow]

7. UnBEElieveable

[Klong]

10. Beeleave it or not, I worked

in a bakery that would regularly purchase large barrels of honey, I'm talking 600+ lbs per barrel, 10+ barrels at a time. The guy that sold us the honey was a little local guy (it seemed to me), I really don't know how he did it. He talked about the mites destroying his hives, this was 20 years ago. He also drove his honey bees on a semi trailer to local farms to pollinate the crops. I asked him, what if some bees are left behind, he said to me, "mind my own beesness". wonka wonka.

[VScott]

15. This sounds like a job for...

Dr. Beeeeeeez....

[FrodosPet]

19. I blame Oprah!

[Trajano]

20. I thought it said "beers"

I almost drove there.