A southern Alberta beekeeper is trying to rebuild after losing 300 to 350 hives during recent flooding in southern Alberta.
Hendrik Greidanus said the water on the Highwood and Bow rivers, and the smaller creeks where his hives were located, rose so quickly there was not enough time to move all of the hives to higher ground.
“The water came up so fast,” said Greidanus.
He estimated he saved 100 hives before the water got too high.
At least 300 hives were washed away, he said, and he is unable to get to another 50 hives because roads are washed out or it’s too wet to get to them.
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“The speed the water came in, it was impossible to plan for it,” he said.
Greidanus knew they were in trouble when water from the Highwood River was lapping at the driveway of his parent’s farm just before 8 a.m. June 20.
The family normally uses big trucks and special forklifts to move the hives loaded with honey, but the ground was too wet to get in anything but a small truck. Instead, they loaded the hives by hand, strapped them down and unloaded them on higher ground.
“They were very heavy,” he said.
The water drowned any bees found in recovered boxes, and the boxes were full of silt and dirt.
“I can’t melt the wax down because there is so much silt and it would destroy my equipment,” he said.
It will be an expensive hit for the family. Greidanus imported bees from New Zealand to replace bees lost over winter.
As well, there is the cost of lost queens, equipment and lost production from the hives.
“We’ve lost a huge amount of money.”
The family is working with their insurance adjuster to see what is covered. About 150 to 250 millimetres of water covered the floor of the extraction plant. It didn’t ruin equipment, but left layers of silt when the water receded.
Medhat Nasr, Alberta’s provincial apiculturist, said the long winter and cool spring have been hard on beekeepers.
