Hello Everyone,
Oh Boy...
these bees are really something
I am moved to tears at the beauty of what they share.
two beekeeper consults leave me feeling at ease with what is likely happening at the hive.
What I saw - bees dragging unborn larvae (baby bees) out of the hive and dumping them outside, could be a normal process - yes, spurred on by the 50 degree nights. There are a few more things I need to check in the hive in the next day or so when it is sunny enough to open, but this scenario is feeling right.
When I was there yesterday all worried about them I kept hearing their collective voice over the airwaves that they were okay. But the worry just wouldn't let go. Then I got home and started reading which put me at ease that it wasn't the worst situation ever, but still confirming "worry" - I worried that I had done something wrong - didn't take care of them properly in some way - made the wrong choices in how to handle the construction problems etc. I was hesitant to even post this for fear of exposing my ineptitude around caring for them - (good grief !! Yes, I put this pressure on myself - I am sorry).
Part of me has had a hard time accepting some of the things I read about our "little darlings" - like a newly hatched Queen killing the unborn Queens (a way to ensure the hive remains strong) and now possibly the worker bees dragging the unborn Drones out because they don't need them anymore (!) and instead need to make room for more honey stores for winter...
I started to feel the bees like cells in our bodies... working round the clock, doing a specific job, and with a certain life span.
A few weeks ago I noticed dead bees in the empty room next door (on the other side of the fowler board - false back board). I wasn't sure if they crawled through the hole in the board and couldn't find their way back? But that just doesn't make sense if they can find their way back to their own hive entrance from miles away...
It seems they might go next door when they are perhaps ready to die so not to contaminate the hive?
I like checking this space, picking up the dead bee bodies - reminding me of cells from my own body - thanking them for their work, then blowing them out of my hand with a loving breath into the nearby brush to be recycled into the earth.
The other week when I moved the fowler board again one bee got stuck in the propolis seal. I noticed this and tried to ease her out. I thought the other bees might be able to help her by cleaning the propolis off and unsticking her antennae from her head. At first it looked like they tried this. Then realizing she was dying the energy of the helper bees clearly changed - to moving her out. The bees are fastidious in keeping a clean house - no dead or dying energy. A huge well of emotion came forth in me at the time - crying for something? the loss of life I imagined at the moment... but really now I feel it was more the amazing beauty of life that these bees are teaching me.
Today I am cleaning dead energy pockets from my home.
Warm Blessing and much Love to you Honey bees,
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