Overview
- An 18-wheeler carrying about 400 beehives overturned in Mauriceville, Texas, on Sunday, June 21, spilling its load and sending swarms into a nearby neighborhood.
- Emergency responders closed parts of the area and told residents to stay indoors while beekeepers and Queen Bee Supply LLC joined crews to recover hives.
- Officials said the trailer was roughly 75% unloaded as most hives were moved to transport trucks and a local honey farm, and recovery operations remain ongoing.
- Published estimates of the number of bees vary widely because some outlets used the truck’s weight to estimate about two million bees while others multiplied per-hive counts to reach much higher totals.
- Beekeepers warn heavy losses are likely because colony survival hinges on whether queen bees lived through the crash, a result that could cause direct financial harm to commercial operators and affect pollination services.