A truck full of bees sounds perfectly reasonable and not at all insane

[Cain]

Especially not when 20 million of them escape

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15439754

A highway in the US state of Utah was temporary closed after a lorry carrying at least 20m bees overturned, freeing the insects.

The bees were being transported to California, ready to pollinate an almond crop next spring.

Interstate 15 was closed down for several hours while local beekeepers worked overnight to recapture the bees.

The trip was among the last of 160 truckloads of bees being sent south from Adee Honey Farms in South Dakota.

Authorities closed the southbound lanes of the highway, near the Arizona border, for several hours on Sunday night. The road reopened early on Monday morning, but officials have warned drivers to keep their windows closed.

"The driver lost control, hit the concrete barrier and rolled over," said Corporal Todd Johnson of the Utah Highway Patrol. "Of course, we then had bees everywhere."
'Complete loss'

Driver Louis Holst and his wife Tammie were dragged out of the overturned trailer by first responders, but were swarmed by the escape bees on the highway.

"We just started swinging our clothes," Mr Holst told the Associated Press news agency. "They stung her all up and down her neck."

Mr Holst said he was stung about a dozen times and suffered a gash on his forehead. His wife also was both stung and bruised.

Two police officers were also stung.

Richard Adee, owner of Adee Honey Farms, said this truckload, worth approximately $116,000 (£72,500) was "pretty much a complete loss".

Local beekeepers worked overnight to capture the bees, but on Monday most of the inhabitants of the 460 hives were gone or dead.

"We tried to move them [the bees] as far out of the metropolitan area as we could," beekeeper Melvin Taylor told the Reuters news agency. "Because when those bees come alive today, they are going to be mad that their house is all [broken] apart."

Earlier this summer, an estimated 14m bees escaped from an overturned truck on a Idaho highway.

Here's an idea: dont transport bees by truck! 

[Faust]

I wonder... would it be possible to set up beehives in a truck, have them pollenate during the day, and at night while they are sleeping move on to another area.

[Telarus]

I wonder... would it be possible to set up beehives in a truck, have them pollenate during the day, and at night while they are sleeping move on to another area.

This is pretty much general practice, but they do it for 2-3 days, and then hive the bees for a day before transporting them. Our mono-culture agriculture system in the US is HEAVILY dependent on "pollinators for hire".

[Cainad (dec.)]

Again?

No really, this has to be the second time this year that I've read about truckloads of bees losing their load. WTF is going on in those trucks? Are the bees rocking from side to side in tandem?

[Don Coyote]

GODDAMN IT!!!! I NEED THOSE BEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Triple Zero]

The trip was among the last of 160 truckloads of bees being sent south from Adee Honey Farms in South Dakota.

This makes perfect sense.

After all, if it was among the first, there's no way they'd be like "hey, let's do another 160 of those!".

"The driver lost control, hit the concrete barrier and rolled over," said Corporal Todd Johnson of the Utah Highway Patrol.

"Of course, we then had bees everywhere."

Brilliant assessment of the situation, here.

Again?

No really, this has to be the second time this year that I've read about truckloads of bees losing their load. WTF is going on in those trucks? Are the bees rocking from side to side in tandem?

Seriously. I'm expecting Bruce Campbell to show up any moment now.

[Cramulus]

ARGGHHH WHAT THE FUCK, I NEED MY BEE FIX


I AM NOT GOING BACK TO WASPS

[Nephew Twiddleton]

GODDAMN IT!!!! I NEED THOSE BEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh no you don't!

[Triple Zero]

Again?

No really, this has to be the second time this year that I've read about truckloads of bees losing their load. WTF is going on in those trucks? Are the bees rocking from side to side in tandem?

Seriously. I'm expecting Bruce Campbell to show up any moment now.

...

Nobody? Anybody?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Again?

No really, this has to be the second time this year that I've read about truckloads of bees losing their load. WTF is going on in those trucks? Are the bees rocking from side to side in tandem?

Seriously. I'm expecting Bruce Campbell to show up any moment now.

...

Nobody? Anybody?

Sorry, I get it, B-movie

I was just more afraid of the idea of Coyote with even more bees.

[Don Coyote]

GODDAMN IT!!!! I NEED THOSE BEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh no you don't!

I AM ABOUT TO LOSE BUSINESS TO THE WASP PEDELERS!!!!!!

[Jasper]

Here's an idea: dont transport bees by truck! 

Cain, the Free Market demands it, and it doesn't care about "common sense" or your "stationery beehive" hogwash.

[Kai]

This isn't just one truck a year, guys. I don't think you understand the /scale/ of the almond pollination timeframe.

You see, almonds are a very high cash crop. Very high. But also very difficult to pollinate. Generally it takes many bee visits to a single flower to get a pollen transfer. Bumble bees are much more effective at an individual flower, but they are harder to domesticate and the smaller numbers of bumble bee hives is outstripped by huge hives of honey bees. They're less efficient but numbers overwhelm.

So, the majority of almond production in the world is in southern California, and the bloom period takes place for just a few weeks in the spring. The almond producers want to milk those trees for everything they can produce. Since an unpollinated flower will not fruit, they need bees. Lots of bees.

Lets just put it this way. For a short period every year, 90% of all the honey bee hives in the country are sent to soucal for almond pollination. That is a LOT of bees. And the bees allow the almond growers to make a shitton of money. What other way would you suggest they transport these tens of thousands of hives to soucal? Plane? Ship? Truck is the cheapest, fastest and least dangerous transport method for large numbers of stinging insects. About once a year, one of these trucks gets in a wreck and releases the angry hives. That's just part of the risk these apiculturists take, because they get paid well for their bee loan.

So, it comes down to simple economics. Either the bee keepers from all over could keep their bees for that period, when nothing is in bloom in their farms and orchards, and have to care for them anyway;

or they could take a risk and ship the hives to SouCal almond orchards and make some money for their effort.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Again?

No really, this has to be the second time this year that I've read about truckloads of bees losing their load. WTF is going on in those trucks? Are the bees rocking from side to side in tandem?

That was my exact reaction!

[Cramulus]

thanks for that explanation, Kai - makes a lot of sense