Lazarus, Come Forth!

The story of Lazarus is about a man who died and then came back to life. This is a story like that.

Last time we looked at how bees form a cluster inside their hive so they can keep warm all through the long cold Canadian winter.

We also looked at how bees are awake in the hive, eating their honey. Then on winter days that aren't too cold the bees will fly out to poop.

Before the bees fly out they warm up their flight muscles.

The bees in these pictures flew out but they must not have warmed themselves up enough before they left the hive. They fell to the snow where their bodies grew cold and they froze.

Have you ever gone outside on a winter day and you didn't dress warm enough? Sometimes I've thought it wasn't that cold and then after I'm outside I wish I had my hat or scarf so I could keep warm.

Once on the snow these bees would try to get warm enough to fly but usually they get too cold and they can't. It's sad that they die....

except for the day when I was there.

I scooped up a handful of bees and I held them in my cupped hands for about ten or fiften minutes.

Slowly I started to feel a little movement inside my hands, a little foot would wiggle here, a little head would turn there.

I'd keep my hands cupped so that the heat from my skin would warm the bees.

Like the story of Lazarus the bees came back to life. They woke up from their cold dead stupor. I warmed them up enough that they could fly.

Sometimes I wish I could be at my bee yard every day so I could warm the bees. But that wouldn't really be right. Nature has a plan and the bees live short but productive lives.

The queen, safe and warmed inside the hive will soon lay more eggs and there will be more bees.

This is a video of me warming up the frozen bees.