Bees Swarm Highway After Tractor - Trailer Wreck

Kansascitychannel.com ^ | 06/23/2003 | Kansascitychannel

[mjf]

TheKansasCityChannel.com Bees Swarm Highway After Tractor-Trailer Wrecks Crews Work To Clean Up Millions Of Bees POSTED: 6:49 a.m. CDT June 23, 2003 UPDATED: 5:21 p.m. CDT June 23, 2003

CLAYCOMO, Mo. -- Crews said about 25 million honeybees were inadvertantly released after a tractor-trailor wrecked on an area highway over the weekend. Monday evening, about 12 million bees remained on the loose, KMBC's Bev Chapman reported.

The accident happened Sunday at Interstate 435 and Interstate 35 north when a tractor-trailer carrying more than 500 beehives, which carry thousands of bees each, flipped on its side. The cargo spilled all over the highway, forcing crews to shut down an off ramp for a time.

Bee handlers suited up to wrangle the honeybees back into hives. Workers said they would be able to capture most of the bees, but some would have to be destroyed.

"We're going to have 80-to-90 percent of them. Some of them are just going to have to be sprayed and killed in the long run," said Rheuben Johnson, a bee specialist working at the crash scene.

Paramedics in the area kept injections on hand in case anyone suffered an allergic reaction from a bee sting. As of Monday evening, no one had to be treated for stings.

Residents who live in the area said that they will be glad when the bees are gone.

"It just makes you nervous seeing that many bees in one area. I have two little ones and they are in the house right now and not allowed to come out," a woman told KMBC.

The driver of the tractor-trailer was not hurt. He was cited for careless and imprudent driving, Chapman reported.

An Iowa farmer owns the bees, which were being taken to Wisconsin to help pollinate cranberry bogs.

[mjf]

to bee or not to bee

This was obviously the morning buzz in the KC area.

[Prodigal Son]

Bee handlers suited up to wrangle the honeybees back into hives.

Out of curiosity, how do they do that? Is it like herding cats?

[blackdog]

As a beekeeper myself, one's misfortune is another's opportunity. Just put a bunch of queen'd hives with no workers in them around the crash site. Come night-time you've got as many new hives as you can scrounge up. At a savings of a hundred bucks a copy I might add.

[mjf]

I suspect it is very similar. What I know of Bee Wranglers is very limited but I suspect they use very small ropes.

[csvset]

Just curious, how many hives do you have?

[PoorMuttly]

Muttly want 25 million honeybees too !

[Delbert]

Whats all the buzz about?

[blackdog]

Bees are easy to collect. I pick up swarms and have even put them on the front seat of the truck for the ride home.

The real mess is when they call you AFTER they sprayed em down, causing all the bees to go insane from some tiny dose of a neurotoxin, making them completely disoriented and a tragedy. I don't know why people feel compelled to call a beekeeper only after the can of Raid?

Our local police department calls me a few times during each summer swarm season. The whole thing takes five minutes(sans tractor trailer).

[shaggy eel]

,,, za-za-za-zing!

[Larry Lucido]

I pick up swarms and have even put them on the front seat of the truck for the ride home.

Do you have little tiny seatbelts for them, and what station do they like to listen to?

[blackdog]

I just have six hives. With the mites and all, I'd never have the time for more. It's mainly for my kids and I to do something together. I get about a hundred quarts a year and lose about two hives each season due to mites. I either collect swarms to restock, or make splits.

A great family activity.

[mjf]

You know, FR is amazing in that there is always someone who knows how to do the unusual here. I posted this just because it was such a typical thing - people driving into work on Monday morning (already a bad thing) and then discovering there is 25 million bees on the highway. You know it's going to be one of those days when a couple hundred bees fly into the windshield at 65.

[mjf]

Ah, another stinging comment. And don't call me honey!

[Larry Lucido]

Never mind, I think I know.

[shaggy eel]

,,, I simply hive to forward this thread to you!

[blackdog]

I deploy bubble wrap airbags for them. No seatbelts. A bee stings when squeezed, hence a seatbelt exclusion. As for the radio station, they make their own. A newly captured swarm in new digs makes a buzz loud enough to notice as a roar. They all push their butts up in the air and buzz for all they are worth. Sounds like a nuclear powered vibrator.

[blackdog]

I know of a Bishop in Arizona who can relate to the windshield thing.

[blackdog]

Favorite song for bees.........."Dancing Queen", by Abba.

[PoorMuttly]

...I shall take that as a "yes."

[cajun-jack]

when i was a kid and lived in the country we would have a swarm or two land in our peach trees...big ole ball o bees.my dad would set the hive and beat on a dishpan with a wooden spoon....they would all fly down into the hive...don't ask me how or why i was 5 or 6 at the time.