The buzz about bees
A sweet mission
Maura Curley
It’s a sweet mission, especially for Francis Jackman, who is thought to have honey flowing through his veins.
Jackman has been communing with bees, since he was nine years old, working in his family’s beehives in St. Lucia. “Every day people kill bees,” he observes sadly, adding ‘“We must preserve what we have, instead of losing it.”
He says if island beehives are destroyed an entire community can be in jeopardy, because without pollination, the essence of everything is endangered. And he says it would be expensive to bring the bees back. Jackman mentions a beekeeper in California who travels around the state with his bees, charging hefty fees to pollinate plants. He cautions we must take measures now to keep our bees buzzing.
Jackman and his volunteers identify hives that should be moved, and strategically plan the repatriation. They carefully scoop the hive, cone, honey and stray bees into a box, and then wait until sunset, when all the bees return to the hive. After the sun goes down, they wrap the bee box carefully in a blanket and take it to bee farms.
The key to repositioning the hive says Jackman is to insure the queen bee is included in the transfer. All the bees follow her, and because she lays approximately 1,500 to 2,000 eggs per day, she is critical to the populations’ survival.
Jackman says too many people still fear bees, when they should give them their blessings. He says their sting is nothing compared to the benefits they bring.
Maura Curley is publisher of virginvoices.com
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