Yesterday I was chased by an angry swarm of bees. I disturbed them when I lifted the lid of the compost bin.
I ran like the devil waving my arms about my head trying to get rid of the bees in my hair. I must have looked like a character in one of those funny cartoons.
Bev, the bee lady said they don’t like black furry things and of course I’ve got black hair.
I guess they’re programmed to be on guard against bears who will steal their honey.
The last time Bev came was to collect a bee swarm that had landed on one of the trunks of the giant oak trees that line our street. She collected the queen with her swarm and placed them in a box, but I didn’t have time to drive her home. She said, that’s all right just drop me at the train station, so I did. She told me yesterday that her bee group still have a good laugh over her taking a swarm of bees on the train.
My mind goes wild with all the funny ‘what if’ scenarios. That’s definitely a story I will write one day.
I learnt new words like drone yard and virgin queen. It was a virgin queen in my compost bin with her infertile female workers. They are like ladies in waiting as they feed and groom her.
Bev came with a smoker but didn’t need to use it. The bees were quite content.
The virgin queen was in the centre of this mass of workers. They were attached to a stick so all Bev had to do was pick the stick up and place it in the cardboard box.
I asked Bev what she is going to do with the swarm when she takes it home. As she has enough hives in her back garden she will replace an older queen who is less productive with this new one. Bev loves bees and can’t bear to kill the old queen by treading on her like other bee keepers do. She will put her in the freezer where she will go to sleep.
Now, it really sounds like a fairy tale.
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade. ~ William Butler Yeats
I dont feel very much like Pooh today,” said Pooh.
“There there,” said Piglet. “Ill bring you tea and honey until you do.
~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
This reminds me of an erpxeience I had with bees in walls! I grew up in the Central Florida area. I remember when I was a little girl waking up to a pool of honey that had seeped from an old blocked off fireplace in my bedroom. I grew up in an old home that had the chimneys blocked off for many years and a beehive had developed inside one of the chimneys. So after a hard summer rain, the honey starting flowing. It was a pretty wild erpxeience!
That is such a wonderful image, Hayley. A house that oozes honey.
Just loved your website and how interesting that bees keep congregating at your house or your street! Some mystical connection perhaps?
Thank you Betty for your comments. It is a really lovely street that I live on with lovely old oaks. I think the bees must feel a kind of peace here.