I think all beekeepers get a little anthropomorphic when it comes to bees. It sure does seem like they are doing things intentionally to let us know certain things at times.
It's interesting to talk about things bees do scientifically. We measure cells and we weigh combs and we observe behaviors, recording and documenting for study later.
All of that is really just for us though. The bees really don't care. If we ever so carefully make sure the frames in our hives are spaced from each other to the exact millimeter to give the bees their "bee space" or if we have the frame in there crooked and off space as can be. The bees don't care. They draw wax and store pollen or nectar or whatever as they will. Will they make brace comb to fill the too large space as we are warned? Probably. They might. They might not.
As often as I've looked inside bee hives, I have yet to see bees whip out a tape measure when drawing comb. I have never seen a supervisor bee yelling at the others that they made the cell too big or too small, while holding a set of blueprints and holding them out for all to see.
I have never seen bees using a microscope or a refractor to make sure the honey is OK before capping it off.
Bees don't do things scientifically, they just do them. Most of what bees do, they know how to do from a genetic memory. The knowledge of how to do certain things, when to do it, etc... they just know. Yes, bees can learn new things, but a lot of what they already do, they already knew.
So, while I and so many others like to observe and measure and learn what the bees know, it's fine to be scientific about it. The bees may not need science, but we do. At the same point, sometimes we have to take the bees cue and just do it.
Relax and be amazed and transfixed and utterly caught up in the moment while we are looking in the hives or just sitting and watching them fly in and out of them.
I was talking on the phone last night with a friend of mine, a fellow beekeeper and cut out "artist" in Louisiana. Both of us use science to get bees out of places and into hive boxes. The better you understand bees, the better you can get the job done better, faster and with less damage to the bees and the structure you take them from.
But, our conversation wasn't focused on the science of what we do. It was all about the cool factor of seeing what those bees did. Had you listened in on us, you'd have thought you were hearing our inner twelve year olds coming out and fully appreciating just how cool those things we saw with those bees was.
Science was at the back of our minds. Because first, we are beekeepers. It is about the experience. That rush you get when you stand in the center of a flying swarm cloud. That sense of "awesome" when you stick your bare hand into a swarm on a branch to get the bees off and not get stung once.
That's just as much, if not more, beekeeping, as the scientific part of it. If nothing else, the scientific part gives you even more appreciation and awe at the things these bees do.
Have you ever watched a bee emerge from her cell for the first time? Cool. Have you ever seen a bee drag something from the hive that looks to be way oversized for her and she stills manages to take flight and carry it away? Way Cool.
Have you ever seen a cloud of bees flying in from one direction and then head straight for some particular point, like a hive entrance and the bees seem to magically just cover the whole box before slipping inside? How frickin cool was that, huh?!!
There's more to bees than just science. Bees are Cool. Don't miss out on that part of it, You just might be missing the most important part.
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