I am snug to report that my beneficial beehive survived not one, nonetheless TWO hurricanes in decrease than three weeks!
First acquired right here hurricane Helene, which launched tropical storm drive winds and plenty of different inches of rain to my house as a result of it handed by Tampa Bay inside the Gulf of Mexico en path to landfall near Cedar Key FL.
Subsequent acquired right here hurricane Milton which struck Tampa Bay instantly. Our group (about 50 miles away from the place the eye acquired right here ashore) acquired 90 mph winds with gusts at spherical 110 mph. We moreover obtained about 10 inches of rain, which introduced on pretty a bit of little bit of localized flooding.
Evidently, I wanted to dial up my beehive storm preparations to have any hope in anyway of my colony surviving the ordeal.
Not solely did I secure it with bungy cords and a sturdy windbreak board (to cease damaging wind tunnels contained within the hive), I added two further concrete blocks on the very best to weigh it down further.
No matter my preparations, gusts of 110 mph could have merely toppled the hive and destroyed it.
In a stroke of superb fortune, Mother Nature intervened.
By means of the height of the storm, a tree fell on prime of the hive, nonetheless amazingly, did not knock it over. 🤯
Instead, the branches created a cage throughout the hive that appeared to protect it. Above is a picture of how I found the hive 100% intact the following morning after the storm abated and it was protected to go exterior.
I was so thrilled at how successfully the colony tailor-made to the opposed circumstances and even appeared to thrive regardless of them.
Below is a short video of how the hive taken care of hurricane Helene. Little did I do know on the time that a wonderful worse storm (Milton) was little larger than each week away!
I carried out an intensive confirm of the hive as soon as extra yesterday (one week after hurricane Milton), and I’m snug to report that there is even MORE honey inside the honey subject, aka “great”.
Our family will probably be having enjoyable with this honey surplus inside the coming weeks with, in spite of everything, hundreds further left inside the hive for the colony to eat all by the winter.