Bees

 August 24, 2022

Honeybees never cease to amaze me.  A call came in late this afternoon about a swarm in a tree behind the house across from pastor Joe’s home. I loaded up the truck with equipment—step ladder, a 10’ pole, 5 gallon bucket, duct tape, a huge tablecloth, an empty hive and a few bee tools. The swarm was about 15’ overhead. Fortunately, I was able to back the truck right under it, set up the step ladder, duct tape the bucket to the pole, set the empty hive on the tablecloth spread out on the ground.

Climbing the ladder pole in hand, I positioned the bucket under the swarm and gave it a hard thrust against the limb. It always intrigues me when shaking a swarm that most of them drop in a clump into whatever container is available. These fell into the bucket which I lowered before climbing down the ladder and shaking the cluster of bees into the hive body on the ground. Another three trips up and down the ladder, and most of them were in the hive. There remained a grapefruit-sized cluster on the limb, but I could see bees on the tablecloth marching into the hive, indicating the queen was in residence.

I left for a couple hours, and just now got home from my after-dark visit. The cluster in the tree was gone, and the hive was literally buzzing in contentment. They are in my side yard now, closed up for a couple days so they can orient themselves to their new location.

Experts say that there is no such thing as a single honeybee. The colony is the organism. A single bee by itself will die like a solitary cell in our bodies. The queen is the heart and soul of the colony; if she is present and healthy, the colony is happy. Remove her, and you can hear the buzzing of the hive take on a frantic and desperate sound.

From their ability to navigate miles from the hive and communicate to the colony where the nectar is to be found, to building the most space efficient cells to raise brood and store honey and pollen, to me they are among God’s most fascinating creatures. Best of all, they produce what has been called “the nectar of the gods”—honey. If God put such thought into creating a honeybee, how much more intricate and significant his care for us!