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that now lay on the grass underneath the branch. Somewhere in the center of that swarm, I knew, was its queen. I thought if I could capture her and return her to the hive, the swarm would soon follow. I found a long twig, which I used to gently spread apart the cluster of bees, and I began searching for the queen. My queen was not marked, so I had to rely on a keen eye to identify her in the pile of tens of thousands of bees. The more bees I spread, the deeper into the cluster I dug. Careful not to hurt a single bee, I patiently continued spreading them out until at last I spotted her. With the twig, I guided her away from the cluster and cupped her between my two hands. Although the queen has a stinger, it is not barbed, nor is she ready to use it. I held her loosely in my hands, giving her enough room to crawl.

A SWARM OF HONEYBEES

Unfortunately, as I tried to rise up from the ground, I missed my footing and had to throw out my hands and arms catch my fall. The queen escaped and rose up into the air like a helium balloon, but then, losing momentum, she fell back down to the ground, where I was able to retrieve her again. I walked her back to the hive, where I lifted the outer cover with my elbow and pushed the inner cover off to the side with my knee. I placed the queen back into the hive, where I hoped she would remain. After replacing both covers, I waited and watched. Amazingly, within just a few minutes, the rest of the honeybees slowly returned to their hive. It was incredible to watch. Before dusk, most of the bees had come back to the hive. Little did I know that this was not the end of the swarm.

Throughout the entire next morning, everything within the hive appeared status quo. But come mid-afternoon, at approximately the same time as the day before, I saw the tornado of bees on the move again. They swarmed in a completely new direction and farther and higher than the previous day. And this time I did not have the good fortune to see where they’d landed. I called Mr. B to tell him the sad news.

Mr. B chuckled at my story and told me I had done the right thing trying to capture a swarm, but that you cannot return a queen and half the colony to the same hive. Instead, I should have put the swarm in a new, unoccupied hive. When I had tried to return the queen and her followers to their hive, they swarmed again because that colony had already prepared for this dramatic event by raising a new virgin queen. After further observation, I was able to locate the swarm cells at the bottom of the frame.

Mr. B explained the only real way to prevent it from happening again was to clip one of the queen’s wings, so she could not take off. This seemed drastic, though I was assured it did not hurt her in any way. Another thing beekeepers do to keep the queen inside is trap her in a wired plaque, thus preventing her from moving around the hive. I now know to watch for another swarm each spring and have a fresh hive ready for my swarming colonies, just in case.

CHAPTER 7

Beekeeping and Honey Throughout History

Entering the beekeeping world fueled my fascination with bees, hives, and honey. During my explorations—in both travel and reading—I’ve discovered a wealth of information about the history of beekeeping and the roles bees and honey have played in cultures around the world. Here are just some of the fascinating facts my love of bees has brought to me so far.

Evidence points to the existence of bees 100 million years ago. A piece of petrified amber, found in a mine of northern Myanmar (formerly Burma), shows an almost perfectly preserved honeybee, practically unchanged from how bees look today. This specimen proves that honeybees are one of the oldest creatures remaining since dinosaurs and possibly the reason that fruits, vegetables, and animals still exist today. Further evidence of beekeeping appears in ancient literature. Mention of honey was made in cuneiform, the first system of writing, done on clay tablets in Babylonia and Sumeria. Honey also appears in the ancient Sumerian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, which