Bee-dazzled!
Kinda cheating on the blog this week… but I had to share this writeup as it was such a good read, relevant to choosing a better path and as some of you know… I will talk about bees all day, ever day if you bring it up (probably even if you don’t bring it up!) Working with bees has become a bit of a fascination and passion that I never thought I would be so bee-dazzled by!
One of my aunties sent me this write up just a few days ago and the timing was perfect! My husband and I had just finished cleaning up 2 of our hives that didn’t make the winter and we actually found the queen in one of them with all the worker bees huddled around her… frozen in time.
We were inspecting the dead hives to see if we could figure out why they didn’t make it through the winter, learn from anything we discovered and alter how we were caring for them this year if it was something we could change.
Of course, finding the dead queen resulted in a lengthy discussion about the life cycle of bees and how the girls stayed with her to the end… protecting her as much as they possibly could. We talked about the plan for our remaining 6 hives (which are doing great!) for this coming season and we may also get the opportunity to learn how to rear queens which is super exciting!
If you asked me 5 years ago if I would ever be a beekeeper… the answer would have been “oh that’s just a dream”! Sure happy I finally manifested that dream when the timing was just perfect!
I can’t even describe how fascinating the bees are… the more I learn the more I become absolutely enthralled with them. They are so organized and communicate better than any modern technology I know of, yet they seem so vulnerable and delicate all at the same time.
The need to protect and nurture them as much as we can… is strong!
So here is the lovely narrative I am referring to… educational but also with a few relevant life lessons thrown in!
Bees hide a surprising secret.
When the hive loses its queen, who alone is able to give life to the colony and maintain order in a perfectly organized society, all seems lost. The life of the hive slows down. Without new eggs, the future is lost. In a few weeks, the colony may be doomed.
But the bees do not panic. Nor do they expect salvation from outside.
Demonstrating extraordinary collective intelligence and profound instincts, they trigger spectacular emergency procedures, almost unimaginable in a world dominated by insects.
The transformation begins with a simple but essential choice
The worker bees choose common larvae - those who would normally be mere workers. They are nothing special. They are not born different. But their fate changes completely.
They are chosen to receive a special food: royal jelly. A rare substance, produced by healthy bees, rich in proteins, vitamins and bioactive compounds. This is royal food in the purest sense of the word.
The larvae fed exclusively with this substance no longer follow the normal path. Within a few days, their bodies develop differently. The ovaries become active. The body grows larger, stronger. Life span multiplied by almost twenty.
She will not work. She will command. She will not follow a routine. She will give life.
The queen is not chosen based on her genes. She is created.
What makes this process so fascinating is that worker bees and queens share the same genetic code. DNA does not determine destiny. It is nutrition. Attention. The decisions of the hive.
It is as if, in a humane society, you could take an ordinary child and, by giving them the necessary care, environment and support, make them an extraordinary leader. Without genetic intervention. Without fireworks. Just with support and vision.
A leader is born out of a crisis
This metamorphosis does not just save the larvae. It saves the entire colony.
Once the new queen is ready, she takes over the hive, begins to lay eggs, restores order and begins a new cycle of collective life. Threatened with extinction, the colony is reborn stronger, more organized, more balanced.
A silent but profound lesson.
The bee shows us, without words, that in times of great crisis, despair is not a gamble, but clarity. A plan. The right choice. Attention and direction.
In their world, a queen is not born. She is supported. Fed. Guided.
And perhaps, as in the Hive, in life, it is not what you start out with that matters, but what you receive, how you are treated, and the decisions others make in difficult times.
Because sometimes it is in the most difficult times that the strongest leaders are born.
Not by chance. But by crisis, vision, and transformation.
You’re welcome!
Nurture yourself and others… you bee-utiful Queen bee!
Much Love,
