New Year Day flooding drowned our birds and bees
Donation protected
Hi, we are Ben and Sarah and we have a little apiary of 7 honey bee hives, chickens and ducks. We sell their eggs and the honey locally in Cheadle, Stockport.
Unfortunately, due to lack of warning, the animals drowned in the flooding on New year's day.
The water was 8ft high with the animals trapped as they slept. We have 3 surviving chickens and 8 ducks. We lost all our bee hives.
The bees have taken 5 years to get them to where they were, and the fowl has been 3 and half years of love and care. We are devastated.
Many people have offered their support, but there isn't anything we can do now till everything dries and we can see what we can salvage. People have asked us to set this GoFund up so they can donate, so this is why we are doing it.
We feel weird doing this, we are not expecting much, just giving those the chance who wish to help a way to.
Any funds will go towards buying new nucleus colonies of bees, these average £180 each. Then new hives and frames, depending on what we can't mend.
You may have seen us collecting bee's around Cheadle from people finding swarms in unusual places, like the bicycle lane on Cheadle Road last summer, where we saved a swarm on the floor.
We will also buy some laying chickens. We had a beautiful range of breeds before the flood. Blue Belles, Light Sussex, olive eggers, plus many we hatched and reared ourselves with love. We also take in people's chickens and ducks that need a new home and also from school hatching projects.
We are still unsure as to the full extent of our loss until everything dries. The heartache of clearing the dead was enough for us. We made the remaining birds safe and we just need to re-assess when it dries.
Thank you everyone for your kind words and support. It really does mean a lot
Organizer
Sarah Bowker
Organizer
England