About 10 days ago I had a wildfire/grassfire in my upstate NY apiary about ten days ago. Although my hives were not burned, the surrounding 10 acres were, including parts of a small nursery, so there was a fair amount of burnt plastic (polypropylene weed barrier, plastic nursery containers, plastic irrigation pipe, plastic tarps, pieces of the outer layers of hive insulation that were temporarily off the stacks, plastic handles on tools, buckets, Cor-O-Plast sticky boards, etc.) In a few places, fire got as close as 30” from the hives which still had the base layer of insulation around them. I also used an Ansul fire extinguisher to stop the fire’s extension to the hives. There was no physical damage to the hives or the stand.
The temp at the time was 29F, with light, somewhat squirrely winds that strengthened during the event, blowing the smoke generally parallel to and somewhat away from the hives. It was @ 9:30am and the fire had been burning for some time before I discovered it. The bees weren’t flying due to the cold and time of day.
Over the next few days bees from all colonies were seen to fly in a seasonally/ temperature-appropriate manner, but it remained too cold, and with very high winds, to check on them inside the hives. With a major nor’easter set to arrive, I did lift the quilt boxes to make sure they all had enough winter patty and pollen patty to see them through. All but one seemed normal and strong. We got 2 feet of snow (which still covers the ground) and then a very severe cold period arrived. Two days ago I found one colony dead (the one that seemed a bit “off” after the fire) and today another one is in extremis, with lethargic and trembling bees on the top bars.
With that background I wanted to ask for comments from beekeepers with experience of fires with more than just brush, trees and grass fuel, i.e. those where there was some component of burning plastics in the mix.
I’ve been trying to think what else this could be other than some consequence of the toxic smoke exposure. And of course, I am worried about the remaining dozen colonies. Temps will not be useful for opening and checking on the ailing colony for another five or six days, and by then I think it will may be too late.
Usual qualifiers: these are all apparently healthy colonies; closely monitored and assertively treated with OAV; without any known disease issues; all well-supplied with stores; in well-insulated and well-ventilated stacks (very small lower entrance and wind-baffled upper entrance.) The dead colony was a small 2016 cast swarm (not from my apiary) that prospered and was wintering in a triple-deep, 6-frame nuc. The ailing one is a strong, long-established colony (2015 queen, open mated here) in a triple-deep 10-frame stack. Bees do very well in my bee yard, both winter and summer.
Do you think I will lose the others, too? What might still be done to help them?
Thanks for any suggestions, and for reading my long explanation. I hope I have included enough info, but will gladly provide more details, if needed.
Nancy
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