Re: protecting bees threatened by hurricane, query by Barry Chandler, here
are some thoughts:
        Having had about 800 hives within the eyewall area of Hurricane Hugo, and
spending 9 weeks as a volunteer in Homestead after Hurricane Andrew, I think
I can speak with some competence on hurricanes and effects on bees.
        Hugo directly cost me about 50 hives. Ten were at the edge of Winyah Bay,
and the storm surge got them. Perhaps some got to Great Britain in time for
spring bloom on the "Gulf Stream Express".  About 25 were crushed by falling
trees and were totally destroyed. The rest were tipped over, and since most
were inaccessible for quite a while (my chain saw didn't cool off for weeks)
they got robbed out by other bees and yellow jackets which were a real plague
after the storm.
        Two things I think protected them quite a bit. One is that few had more than
one super (they were all out for pollination on fall cukes & squash) so they
weren't very tall and had little wind resistance. Second, I usually place
them in wooded areas for shade and sting protection of field workers. Most of
the pines snapped at about 12-15 feet, so there was still quite a bit of wind
shelter at ground level.  One group that was in an open field had only tiny
clusters. On a warm night, if you thump on a hive, the bees will cover the
outside. I suspect that happened resulting in the bees being blown away.
        Andrew occurred just before the fall pepper honeyflow, so more bees were
supered, and higher hives were more apt to blow over in the storm. Those who
were able to get them closed back quickly had little direct losses. Otherwise
there was heavy robbing damage. A lot of the area is low, and there was a lot
more water damage. Several hundred hives were totally lost to the storm surge
on the mangrove swamps near Turkey Point.
        With both Andrew and Hugo, the aftermath was far more devastating to the
bees than the storm itself. Debris makes great breeding for flies and
mosquitoes and aerial applications were done in both cases. These are label
violations, of course, if done while bees are flying, but it is mighty hard
to get attention. The post-Hugo spraying nearly destroyed my business, and
eradicated wild honeybees in many areas, because they were hit late in the
fall, when there was not time to recover cluster strength for winter cold. I
tried stimulative feeding, but the queens just would not lay in the cold.
Bees were sprayed on many warm sunny afternoons while bees were working
goldenrod and aster, and the field force just dropped at the spot.
        I repeatedly notified our "environmental protectors" that bees were foraging
and applications were in violation. I offered to help them set up monitoring
to determine when bees were foraging. They refused. There were many days they
could have sprayed all day with no damage.
        Andrew spraying heavily damaged several beekeepers as well. Beekeepers went
to heavy syrup feeding to get back up to strength. They were helped by the
pepper flow (-nothing seems to stop that plant!)  When normal mosquito
control programs resumed at night, the damage stopped (bees are not out).
        An interesting sidelight: migratory beekeepers who normally winter in the
area did not come because of the devastation. One squash grower commented to
me: Andrew must have messed up something with the weather, or something with
the plants that we just don't understand, because I can't get my fields to
make anything.  I asked him if he had any bees. It was fascinating to see the
lights come on (you know -that little light bulb over their heads!), as he
considered. "Well last year I had 50 hives on this field, forty on this one,
a hundred on this one. The beekeeper didn't come this year."
        He called someone and he had bees the next day. I saw him a week later and
he was smiling.
        As to the storm itself, the best thing one could do to prepare is to make
sure the bees are not in low areas. Either the storm surge or heavy rain is
apt to flood them. Then get them into as low a profile as possible by
removing supers. Some good heavy blocks would sure help. Remember you have to
deal with two types of wind. One is the sustained hurricane winds which the
bees should be able to stand fairly well. The other is the embedded tornados,
which nothing will stand. They said we had about 3000 in Hugo.
        Before the storm, get your chainsaw sharpened & tuned up. Generator, too, if
you have one, or can get one. You won't afterwards.  Next get back to the
bees as quickly as possible to forestall robbing. That is really tough, of
course, if the roof of your home is missing.
        What to do about the poisoning?  Trying to stop them from spraying would be
a total waste; you know they are going to do it (mosquitoes almost carried me
off one day).  But we've got to work to make them obey the label, which is
required by law. Know the law ahead of time. I don't know if it would work,
but I know what I'd do today, if they did another daytime aerial program. I'd
notify them that bees are foraging during the application, which is a label
violation. I'd offer to help them monitor when bees are foraging (in
writing). I'd document the foraging bees and the application with a video, if
I could, or by witnesses.  If they continued to apply in violation, I'd go to
the judge and swear out a warrant for their arrest on willful (criminal)
pesticide misuse.  I think that would tend to bring them into compliance.