I have actually a funny story to tell so unusual that I think this brings some smile on some faces.
During a sea cable Installation 2-3 Km off the coast near Eemshaven Netherland I had to stop the machinery for 16 hrs (lucky I was the Installation Manager) as we had some visitors.
A Queen and her army made it herself comfortable directly between the cable highway and cable.
The client freaked out because of the time and money loss (only the barge costs already 90000 EUR per day) and returned out of the galley with a Insect spray can.
As responsible person on board I called an âall stopâ and warned him, that bees are by law under protection and he cannot kill them without taking the consequences of my report if he does so.
A hefty argument started and I gave order to my crew to block him entering the cable carousel for safety reasons and took the Health and Safety manager to my side who confirmed the all stop as nobody could say who of the crew might be allergic of bee stings.
(I know they are not organized when swarming as my grandpa was beekeeper and we caught a lot in our time as he was still alive without any of us both got stung).
So these little fellows gave my crew a welcome break from the rough offshore job.
As i told the HSE manager I have experiences years back and will wait till night to remove them he agreed to keep the loss for the client at a minimum.
That gave us enough time to tape some Styrodur plates together and build a emergency beehive.
I the night I solved the âproblemâ, brushed the lads into the hive.
Because we laid the cable from the coast away further at sea I stored the hive on deck the hole facing east and the kitchen chef had to make sugar water which was taken thankfully from my new crew of 1000âs⌠The bees stayed 90 days and back in port our steward took them home and is now a proud beekeeper.
Lost time Incident 68.000 EUR for the client and a shoulder petting from the barge owner for the extra income.
My reaction was the right move but the client wasnât pleased at all. I have never worked for him again but the barge owner hired me multiple times again.
Through the cable tank you can see the coast as the âflying sailorsâ assembled at the cable, we were already a good distance at sea.
The most common consumable to fix things on a ship is Duct Tape, with that stuff and Styrodur Plates we built the hive but never expected that the bees will stay the whole projectâŚ
Hello @Willy and thanks for a great story! Beekeepers around the world can appreciate your fierce display of essential traits every good beek must have: respect for the natural world, quick thinking, and handy resourcefulness Well done!! âŚnext time you tell your wonderful story, just change âladsâ to âlassiesâ please, as Her Majestyâs Army is always nearly 100% female
I had still hope that may be one male bee slipped through the harsh control before swarming and in this modern world it is a duty to protect the minority just not to end up as a racist or feminist ( ) hence that was the reason to highlight the âladâ.
But you are right we should talk about âlassiesâ here.
My English lingo âgrewâ up in the offshore world under 100âs of Lads and mainly they were Smoggies, Monkeyhangers, Scousers and Geordies who loving it using the phrase âladsâ and âlassiesâ I should have known better.
Beside my Grammar there was one thing that came back to me.
The interest for Bees that was lost as my Grandpa died, his house got sold and the new owner didnât bother bees and gave them away.
Now I am a Grandpa myself and it seem that my Grandpa gave me something which I will be doing in my retirement.
Beside the honey I love so much the Bees were my most beloved friendsâŚ
why?
I guess that story I have to share as well as it isnât less funny but also feed for the mind how to get new generations of beekeepers growingâŚ
Very interesting.
Did the bees live for the 90 days on syrup or did they head onshore for nectar? If so, how far offshore were you and was the ship mobile at the time ?
We were laying this power cable with a speed of approx 4m/min into the open sea. The max distance reached was about 10 Kilometer in the Waddensea.
The only thing we had was common 12 jars of Supermarket Honey (that nobody was allowed to eat on his cornflakes and toast) and white Sugar.
Our Chef took every day a bowl with round 2 Kg of this self-made solution where he put lots of floating wood chips on to give them bees enough landing spots.
Lucky enough was we spread the trays and bowls in a distance of 10m from the hive and the bees brought the whole amount per day in the hive.
After 90 days there were no more Honeycombs built like a manâs palm which shows that not many of them were flying to shore or they must have sourced some similar ships materials that they used for their Honeycombs.
Only just found this story! Brilliant! Very nice decent size swarm too⌠I can just imagine all the bees when the queen started heading straight out to sea, âreally?? I mean⌠REALLY!!!â. And then when you got them in a nice hive she was probably all like, ânow do you see?? Ye of little faith!â
Thanks, you didnt say what time of the year this was but swarms typically happen in May or June and these are bees with a lifespan of no more than two months, so if they were doing well after 90 days this means that they raised brood on the ship.
The honey and sugar are ok to keep bees alive but to rear brood bees need pollen so this must mean that they travelled to land to get it! A 2-3km journey is no problem for a bee but 10km is quite a way.
This also means that the workers were able to find their way back to the, albeit slowly, moving ship.
Its a story that would be worth writing up properly for a local bee magazine.
btw, i didnt understand your last paragraph about the honeycomb.
As we did move the bees into a proper Hive before the Steward carried them home there were a few pieces honeycomb sticking to the walls of that Styrodur Hive we made for them.
All pieces were about a manâs palm size, hence not much they built.
(Its 7 Years ago now so I wonât be able to say how big they really were but there were tiny pieces everywhere in the hive.)
The swarm came begin of June on board as we were just 1-2 kilometers from shore and the final position where we dropped the cable end was around 10 Km cable but I estimate 6-7 Km from the shoreline.
I also know that is quite a distance but it was a big blue barge in the Waddensea, on a sandy beach at low tide, so it was clear visible form miles away. Objects appear much closer at sea than they are, that is the only explanation I have that they could go so far and sure many never returned.
The amount of bees was significantly smaller than they arrived but as I contacted the Steward 2 years later he told me he had already 4 hives and planned more to come.
Well done!! âŚnext time you tell your wonderful story, just change âladsâ to âlassiesâ please, as Her Majestyâs Army is always nearly 100% female 