04/26/2026
The Bee People
Where part of my heritage is Native American, my spiritual belief is closer to 100% Native. In the Native American culture, every species is a "people", and I think the reason for this is to keep the "humans" on the right path in taking care of the earth and all the creatures that inhabit it. Obviously, most of humanity is failing at this at epic proportions!
When you think of the bees as "the bee people" you put them on your level, or maybe better said you on theirs. This changes how you view them, how you treat them, and how you care for them. This isn't to say you treat them like your "pets", it's to say that you treat them as a sovereign entity that if you partake in "keeping them" that you will do so with the greater good for all involved--as a primary goal--and the "bee people" are part of that "greater good".
When I started beekeeping, I put a swarm box out with the intention that if I didn't catch a swarm, I wasn't ready. That the decision for me to be a "beekeeper" wasn't in my hands, but in the "hands" of the bee people, and it was up to them to join me on this journey. I didn't have a full understanding of what I was to do at that time, and as many reading this will know...I followed what I was told was "right", and it took many years to understand that what I was taught was not correct, just, or for the greater good of all involved.
I caught that swarm and put them in a different box, but the other box I put them in was much better than the box I caught them in, and not knowing much about beekeeping at the time...I didn't do much to the space the bees were now in. The colony did well over winter, and grew to be so large that one day I opened the box, and immediately closed it out of fear! I never saw that many bees, but I also realized that if they decided to, they could attack and probably kill me! At the time I was allergic to bee stings--though I think that was less to honeybees, and more to wasps and hornets.
Over time, I adopted more of the "beekeeper" ideas of expand, feed, and production, but in that I also saw the survival of my bees become less than epic. I started to question beekeeping, and asked my questions to the bee people, and the answers I got were answers that SHOULD have been obvious, but somehow I missed, or ignored them.
The bees first year is about survival. The bees choose a space to move into mainly based on "can they build up enough to be able to survive winter". This is of course when they aren't desperate, but what I had to learn was the "trajectory" the bees needed to be on, and that when I took on a colony, it was up to me to see the trajectory and keep them on it so they could survive.
What I realized then, was that the box I put out for them--or put them in if they were a swarm or removal--either was, or needed to be the right size for the bees to make it through their first year. That the bees chose right, and when I chose...I needed to be right also!
What I see too many beekeepers doing now, is Bait and Switch trapping. They want MORE bees, and many just want SOME bees, because they haven't been able to keep their bees alive. These people are still listening to the "beekeepers" and haven't yet asked the Bee People for directions. It's sad to see so many bees dying, and the answer to fixing this is to buy more bees, or to catch bees that will never be listened to, to understand that a bee box is not a natural space for them, and that for this union to work...they will have to listen, and do as they are directed to do by the bees, and leave the "beekeeper" mind behind.
