The Bees: Her Highness Reigns

Continuing with the bee story that started here, the queen bee needed to be checked on. Upon arrival, she was relegated to a small marshmallow-plugged chamber with some of her attendants. This provided time for her to be adopted as hive royalty.

So five days after the swarm moved in, we opened up the hive to check on her well-being. The first thing we had to do is get a small smoke-producing fire going to help calm the swarm. 

After five days, it is clear that the bees have been busy. Comb is already visible. Many of the bees have yellow pollen-loaded feet, having returned from their search.

This whole bee thing seems complex and fascinating at the same time. The queen mates only once in her life, and that is at 200-300 feet up in the air. After mating, she is able to lay upwards of 60,000 eggs in a year for up to eight years!

Then there are the drones. The suckers exist just for the off chance that they get to mate with a queen. What are the odds of that? But if you are the lucky drone, you and your legacy are set by the approx 500,000 offspring you've sired. Come winter, most drones are kicked out of the hive elimante dead weight. The whole thing's nuts.

After pulling out several bee-covered racks, the hunt for the queen is underway. To me, the search for her is kinda absurd. This is needle-in-the-haystack stuff. Queen-in-the-colony stuff. But after a short search, here she is! The one with the longer abdomen.

Now I know what you're probably thinking: How many times did you get stung? Not once. I have been stung a fair bit in life and have a healthy respect for stingers. But these bees are different. They don't seem to have an attitude.