well that was one heckuva trip

[Anonymous]

My commercial beekeeper friend asked me to deliver 500 bee colonies to Missouri because he got tied up. 1252 miles each way. we left Wed morning, stopped by Valdosta for lunch with joeesphus where he loaded us up with some good libations. Then drove straight thru with me behind the wheel for 21 hrs straight. On the way up, the front axle u joints took a dump, and the truck had a fuel problem that showed itself at the peak in Chattanooga. Unloaded the bees after 3 hrs sleep, then crashed hard that night for 12 hrs. I removed a hive that was in a guys basement ceiling for 5 years that musta been a couple thousand bee strong. (Did I mention I am NOT a beekeeper) Put the truck in the shop to get fixed on Friday. Saturday, everyone who was picking up the bees got em, and I got to talk to a cattleman named Cheryl for a good bit that's just getting into bees. we got back on the road Sunday morning for another 21 hour straight run where we found out we couldn't go over half a tank without having more fuel issues. Thinking the tank has a diptube crack. Got in Monday am, and slept for 4 hours, then back to work today. I was supposed to meet Dun for lunch on Friday, but the trucks issues kept that from happening. I was looking forward to it too. Sorry again for canceling Dun. This is not a trip I plan to do in such a short time again anytime soon

 

[TexasBred]

Darn my friend...I'm worn out just reading the post. :lol2:

 

[LRTX1]

Glad to see you made it back. I made that trip once, Gainesville Fl to Columbia Mo, made it there in 16 hours with 0 tickets.

 

[Anonymous]

That movin! We made the trip from mims to the lake Ozark region in 18.5 not including one stop to drop off some bees and truck issues, and the trip back in 21 including another stop to drop bees and filling up at the half tank mark. No tickets either and doing 70-72 the whole way.

 

[LRTX1]

Well, it was all interstate, and back when I used to go more than a couple hours with out havin to pee. Stopped twice that trip, Cartersville Ga & Paducah.

 

[Jogeephus]

I'm glad ya'll made it back safely. I've put the honey you gave me to good use. I think I'm really going to like orange blossom honey. Color is great and the sugar is higher than the clover I have. Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Let me know how it turns out.

 

[Jogeephus]

If it turns out as I hope I think you should make more trips to Missouri. Heck its just up the eighteen path road a spell and hang a left near the gas station then go west a little piece.

 

[Anonymous]

Hopefully I get an invite back your way this fall

 

[highgrit]

Hopefully all your bad luck is used up. Any time you can average over 60 miles per hour for 8 hours of driving your doing great.

 

[kenny thomas]

Sounds like a heck of a trip.
I have a question about the bees. In 2007 I was on a large fire in the bugaboo swamp on the Fl/GA line north of Lake City. There were several areas that had maybe 50 hives each surrounded by electric fence. These were a long way from any cropland, or fruit orchards in the middle of pine plantations a long way from anything. Tell me the reason for them being there.

 

[Anonymous]

Highgrit, I wouldn't call it a string of bad luck, more like too much driving in too short of time. I'm not 20 years old anymore, that's for sure.
Kenny, I know there are a lot of plants that bloom in the swamps when other plants are not blooming. The bees also seems to do better in general near swamps. Something about the tannins in the water that help them fight off noseama, a disease that makes them poop till they die. If they were direct under the pines, that would be for shade, and the electric fence because it deters the black bears.

 

[kenny thomas]

Yes they were directly under the pines and it was June so it was hot. Never thought about the bears. My crew worked night shift but never saw a bear. About everything else though.

 

[Anonymous]

There are tons of bears up that way, but they probably stayed clear of any fires I'm sure. That and they knew where you guys were by smell all along.

 

[kenny thomas]

You saying we smelled bad? :lol2: Probably right.

On a fire in eastern NC in 2008 in 14 days (night shift again) I saw 52 bear. They were in a swamp area also but surrounded by framland, mostly corn and soybean. This was in May and the wheat had recently been harvested. The bears would just lay out in the fields and lick up anything that had been spilled. I have heard the term, fat as a bear, these sure were. Sorry to hijack your post.

Back to the bees were these taken somewhere to be used for pollination of crops or fruit, or just for honey production. I sometimes see tractor trailer loads of them on I-81 in Virginia heading north to the apple orchards. Odd how the hives are stacked, with some type of netting over them to keep the bees in.

 

[highgrit]

Gallberry honey is pretty good stuff, thats what the apiarist was harvesting.

 

[Jogeephus]

Kenny, the reason the bees were in that location was for the galberry that blooms in May. Galberry honey is a pretty sought after honey. Very little of it is exported so if you have never seen it in a store its because we keep it all to ourselves. Its mild and has a light to medium color. State senator from the bugaboo area even tried to make it illegal to spray galberries with herbicides. Didn't pass and she wasn't re-elected either.

 

[Anonymous]

No worries on the hijack..I'm used to it. these were what are called nucs....smaller boxes with 5 frames instead of 8 or 10. My friends sell the nucs to other beekeepers. There's a lot of money in pollination, but it can be a logistical nightmare and the bees often come back weaker than when they went in mainly due to traveling.

 

[pdfangus]

As I was reading this thread the question that went thru my head was how do you keep the bees form leaving the hive and being lost along the way without smothering them?

fine netting.....

Okay net over each individual Hive?

 

[Anonymous]

You close the box all the way up and put a net over them.some get out but not many