Following in the footsteps of beekeepers that have gone before me, we moved a NUC (two deeps) over to a friends house early this morning. All went well getting the hive in the bed of the truck. I entrusted my dear husband to ratchet down the deeps and put it in the truck. Followed my friend thru the neighborhood and he was going slow until one turn. From my car I heard a “thonk”, his brake lights come on and he bails out of the truck. “I think the hive flipped over!” I jumped out of my car and sure enough it was on it’s side and my dear sweet hubby had not ratcheted it down tight enough. The brood boxes slipped apart and the bees were pouring out!!!! Grabbed my veil and jacket and I look up to see a woman jogging right towards us. I yelled,
you better turn around, we have bees loose. She turned and hauled it out of there. I finally got the hives
upright but they were everywhere. They finally settled back on the box, so off we went, got them on their new location and left them alone. I was worried we might have lost the queen. Went back a few hours later, they orienting to their new location and I found the queen. As I’m going thru the frames, my friend kept hollering continuously “did you find the queen?” I wanted to shoot him LOL! Another one for the books and next time, I’ll tighten the ratchets!