I watch the golden, furry, humming mass of stinging things teem from the hive, fly up and settle in the birch tree. Last of all a large, dark shape crawls out, the virgin queen. You lift her carefully, carrying her over to the new hive. Within minutes the air fills with wings, as the swarm relocates to its new home.
They whirr over my head, and I want to scream, but I’m more afraid of getting something wrong.
From the old hive you pull out block after block of glistening sweetness.