Unbelievably stupid on my part.

[Aroc]

Still trying to calm down over this one.  This has to be the single most stupid move I have ever done while beekeeping.

Doing an inspection on one of our best hives.  Was going to add another super.  Put two boxes aside as I had gone through them.  But here is the stupid part.  I placed them on an unstable bale of straw I had next to the hive.  As I turned around to get into the bottom box they fell over onto the ground.  Bees everywhere.  My poor wife was doing the best she could to keep me focused and put everything back together.  I was so angry at myself for doing something so stupid.  My fear of course is damaging or killing the queen.  Guess I won?t know for a few days.  I didn?t spot her on any of the boxes I had taken off so there is a chance she was in the bottom.

Guess I?ll regroup and check on it in a few days....just can?t believe I did that.

[iddee]

Dat don't be tuupid, dat jist be eddykationell.    

[Acebird]

My poor wife was doing the best she could to keep me focused and put everything back together.

I would have hi tailed it.  Give yourself a chance to calm along with the bees.  What ever damage was done would not make a difference in 30 minutes.  The worst thing that could have happened was the queen got squished.  Jumping in right away when you are agitated could likely cause another mistake.

[little john]

That's an example of Sod's Law in action - Sod's Law being a more extreme version of Murphy's Law.  While Murphy's Law states that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong", Sod's Law requires that it only goes wrong at the worst possible time or circumstance - in this case when inspecting one of your best colonies.

You can bet your shirt that if you'd placed boxes from an average colony on that straw bale, nothing untoward would have happened to them.

Try not to beat yourself up over this - we've all done something equally ham-fisted at some point - it's just that most of us don't have the cahunas to post about their screw-ups.  So, well done for posting ...
LJ

[Waveeater]

Been there, done that.

[Bush_84]

I can speak from my own personal experience that while I try to learn from others to prevent mistakes I am not successful as preventing them.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Well, the way I see it: no one was hurt, bees will get over it.  If the queen was harmed, the bees will make a new one.

A serious mistake is when people get hurt.  You feel so bad because you care about your bees, that is a good trait, considerate you are.

Do you think any of us are beyond error or mistakes.  I appreciate your truthfulness, you got guts for admitting error.

If I were to list my mistakes, this computer server would need more memory, the cloud would not be enough memory.
Blessings

[BeeMaster2]

As mentioned, live and learn. The next time, back away for even just 5 minutes. Most of them he time, that is all it takes for the bees to calm down. My father tells a story about my brothers inspecting one of his hives, he had them on the roof of his house, and they dropped a box. They had bees jackets on and ran and jumped off the roof. They were too afraid to go back up. My dad, in a T shirt and long pants, goes up there and puts it all together. It only took a few minutes for them to calm down.
By the way, I?m not saying to do it with out protection. Always use what ever you are comfortable with.
Jim

[Aroc]

Went in today to check on things.  Actually looks okay.  I didn?t go too deep but found eggs in the super.  Guess she is still there.

Thanks for everything.

[BeeMaster2]

Glad it worked out Okay.
Jim