I should start off this post by admitting the truth. I am afraid of bees. It’s not easy to admit that I suffer from apiphobia. It’s embarrassing. I don’t work in the field, I’m always in the office, but I work for a company that is dedicated to saving the bees. The technicians in the field look at me with pity, as if to say “how sad, she’s scared of a bee”.
It’s not that I don’t have the utmost respect for these ladies….I find them fascinating. Yes I call them “Ladies” because bees as we know them, are actually all female. Even though I’m scared to death of bees, I can’t help sharing some of the incredible things I know about their behavior. For starters all male bees (Drones) are actually the product of unfertilized bee eggs! Don’t ask me how that can be true…I have no idea…but I have heard and read it enough times to believe it!
Drones look different than bees. They are bigger and fatter and their only purpose is to fertilize the queen. If the Drone accomplishes his purpose, he immediately dies after fertilization. If he fails to fertilize the queen, he will eventually be pushed out of the colony by the “ladies” of the hive. They don’t want a lazy Drone hanging around…who can’t fulfill his duties and takes up valuable hive resources. It’s truly a brutal world for the Drone. Let’s take a moment to honor the poor life of a Drone……
OK, now that we have paid our respects, I want to share with you what we got up to last Friday night.
I went along with one of our bee technicians to witness how a live removal works. Needless to say I was very nervous. I love the idea of bees. I love learning about their fascinating behavior. I love them when they perform their miracles in nature….but I’ve never been stung by one! All my life whenever I saw a bee I would scream and run in the opposite direction. Guess what…it works! Perhaps I wouldn’t be so afraid if I had gotten stung…but who knows.
Anyway, the point of all this is that I was very nervous to go out and witness this live removal. I stood well beyond the camera….way in the background. I marveled at how brave Audiva the hobbyist beekeeper was to just jump right in and help our technician with the process. I watched as Jeff, Audiva, and Louis (our videographer) dove in with their bee suits and got the amazing footage below.
I gotta admit, it was a pretty cool way to spend a Friday night. I didn’t get stung and the whole thing was fascinating. The customer got the bees removed from his exercise bike, Audiva got a swarm for her hive box, and we got to save the bees! Talk about a Win, Win, Win Situation.
