"Ah! here She is" Carlos said as he showed me the queen. He put her in a special little plastic clip. It had openings that were big enough for her workers to come and go, but she could not leave. He carefully attached that to the comb she had been on.
Carlos had statistics of how many gazillions of eggs the queen laid and all of the functions of the 'girls" as the hive is essentially all female.
Having had two kids myself I just couldn't fathom it. Although the idea of having thousands of helpers did sound appealing.
I asked if these bees had the dreaded African cross breeding. He said yes, they were Africanized, but the Puerto Rican bee’s have stopped killing. Why they gentled down is a mystery, and the research is ongoing.
After he relocated the hive into the frames, Carlos then put the whole box back up into the ceiling.
We removed the screens from the windows so the bee’s had easier access while they adjusted to their box. We closed the door to the bedroom which separated that part of the apartment from my daily living routine. I would temporarily sleep in the other bedroom.
Carlos told me the box would need to be there for a "while" so the hive could settle in. He would come back late some night when the bees were sleeping to take them to the sanctuary.
In Puerto Rico, "a while" could be anything from a few days to a few months; or, possibly a few years. But Carlos came back a week later and took the hive to his home. I am so happy there are people like Carlos in the world.
Carlos’s non-profit
"Ah! here She is" Carlos said as he showed me the queen