"Telling the bees"

[dehavik]

Yesterday, I met the family of the late Rosalee Oldham Wheeler, a woman beekeeper with ties and a house in our little community. Rosalee died just a few months ago in her home in Arizona at 90 years old.

Her father had hives shipped to him in the late 1800s. They travelled around Cape Horn on a schooner and into San Francisco, where they were put on a barge for the remainder of the journey. Rosalee learned her trade from her father, and was a beekeeper for 70 years!

I asked Rosalee's daughter if, after her mother died, she went to tell the bees of the loss of their keeper, so that they would not leave. Rosalee still had four nucs when she passed away. The daughter said that when she went back to her mother's house a while after her death, the bees had all left. The nucs were empty.

Myth? I'm beginning to wonder. Don't forget to tell the bees.

[Ravenseye]

I've always loved that concept. Nice post!

[Ben Franklin]

My mother told me that when her dad would go to the bee hive he would knock on the top,,and tell the bees he was there.
When Grand dad died and a neighbor offered to care for the bees, Grand mother told him to knock before you open it and tell the bees your there for Tom (my grand dads name).
I talk to my hive while I work, sometimes asking "what are you doing that for?"