THREE QUEENS

Retired sea captains always seem to need projects when they no longer have ships to command, and my husband Nik is no exception! He’s always busy tending to his aquaponics project, his laying hens and his little herd of goats, and spends a lot of time thinking about and creating new and productive uses of his time. During the heat of the afternoon Nik often retires to a cool room in the house and watches educational U-tubes, and when I noticed the close attention he was paying to those dealing with bee-keeping I knew what was coming!

Nik was fascinated by a clever Australian invention called the Flow Hive, which offers an innovative method of getting honey from specially constructed bee hives without having to remove the combs for extraction. He spent a great deal of time learning as much as possible about bees and beekeeping, then ordered 2 automatic hives, boxes of hive frames, a beekeeping tool kit and a full protective bee suit.

The equipment from overseas would take a while to arrive, and Nik used the waiting time to organize his bee-keeping area. He chose a flat spot on the hillside where he used to raise chickens, and erected stands made of cinder blocks under the shade of a mango tree. He then, with the assistance of a local bee-keeper, collected 2 boxes of bees from our friend Jim, the owner of Bequia’s popular Ambois Apiary. These “brood” boxes are the beginning of what I am sure will be a worthwhile project, but Nik first had to be sure that each box contained the all-important queen bee. Without the queen no eggs can be laid, and an eggless hive is a dying hive.

Nik’s bee suit arrived on his birthday, giving a whole new meaning to “the birthday suit!” He tried it on eagerly, but was forced to wait for the “smoker” to arrive before opening and examining his brood boxes. The smoke is important; it’s used to calm the bees, allowing the beekeeper to check the boxes for eggs, larvae and, of, course the queen bee. The rest of the bee-keeping equipment finally arrived, packed in cardboard boxes IKEA-style. The wooden hives were quickly assembled at the house, then moved to be placed on top of the brood boxes at the farm.

Nik geared up for his first brood box inspection, and I followed him up the hill to watch. I initially kept a careful distance to take pictures, but drew closer once I realized that the bees weren’t interested in me. Nik lifted out and examined each frame, but wasn’t able to spot the queen in either box, neither could he detect the presence of any eggs. We later put this down to inexperience – our bee-keeper friend came to help, and was able to assure Nik that each box DOES contain a queen, and that she’s doing her job!

Now we wait for the bees to multiply. Nik spends hours each day sitting under the mango tree observing the bees, and says watching them work has opened his eyes to nature in a way he’s never experienced before. He’s blown away with wonder by the bees and what they are able to accomplish, reminding me of that old song about the birds and the bees;

     Let me tell ya ‘bout the birds and the bees

     And the flowers and the trees

     And the moon up above

     And a thing called love.

I’m no longer the only queen on this property, there are now three of us, and I know that number will probably grow with time. I’m already researching uses for the delicious honey our hives will produce, and, as long as the other 2 queens do their job, I don’t mind the competition!