Saturday, July 18, 2009

We have houseguests—hundreds of them!

Well, more like yard guests. But we like them!

They even brought their own room. A friend of ours is, among other things, a beekeeper, and as part of his maintenance of several hives, one of them needs to go somewhere else for a little while. Something to do with new bees, old bees, swarms, and the like. Whatever. We're happy to bee sit for as long as he needs us.

In the morning sunlight, our guests are very busy, flying in and out of an opening at the bottom of their box. We get along well: We are careful not to step on or frighten them, and (so far) they do not sting us. They're honeybees, after all, and they're busy.

We like watching them but were surprised at one of their behaviors.

Apparently as bees die off naturally in the hive, the other bees remove the bodies and deposit them in a little heap outside. "Bring out your dead!"

What's in it for us besides countless minutes of amusement?

Hopefully a comb full of honey for Sophie. So much better than a scented candle, don't you think?

3 comments:

tommie said...

ha, is that quote from Princess Bride??

I didn't know bees did that either?

Mary Seeger said...

Fabulous! Especially the Monty Python reference - clever girl!

Jackie said...

Wow that is so interesting!