 Ireneusz is an inhabitant of Dabrowka village, where he lives with his wife Katarzyna and their two daughters. He has been was very active and dynamic member of our association of the project, and when he started cooperation with HPI he was included into it and received ten bee families. He placed them in the hives that he constructed himself in addition to two ones that he had before. In spring of 2006 he already passed on the first five bee families to another apiarist.
At the beginning of spring of 2007 bee families were growing properly. In the nice morning of May, Ireneusz headed to his bee yard to do weekly inspection. His colony was busy with thriving on many new blossoms, especially wildflowers that just appeared in the meadows. He had been excited at the prospect of possible drawing off his first batch of honey in June.
Over the past few days while approaching the hives he could easily recognize strong sweet emission of fills in the air that was signaling that honey run is in full swing. Watching the bees at work is a fascinating experience. By the sheer volume of workers, many thousands, that gather nectar and pollen and land back at the hive you admire the effort of this team, making the hive grow and thrive.
That morning, however, it was a sort of unrest in the air close to the apiary. From 20 meters away Ireneusz could see that the hives had been toppled and that the area was covered with broken frames. Since he was not dressed properly to face furious bees flying toward him, he decided to return home as quickly as possible. His first thoughts were that he had lost everything and that it was a tragedy for him. When he calmed down a bit he decided to call his fellow beekeeper Wladek Hanus, a member of the ??Eco Bieszczady? association.
Over the past few weeks Wladek??s voice has always greeted him with expression "So, how the bees are doing?" The answer this morning was abrupt," The hive has been wiped out; a bear has had a honey snack!".
 Wladek immediately replied, "Get ready, I will be over there in five minutes. We have some work to do". When Wladek arrived on the Ireneusz??s farm he explained ??We are OK. The queen should be found in the middle of one of the massive bundles. Bees are protecting their queen to the last bee." They both set up quickly a new hive and deftly picked up shattered frames. Next, with a quick snap of the unbroken box shook the bees down into their new-fashioned home. Then, they placed any frames filled with honey or eggs that they could salvage into the replaced hive, put back the cover, and backed away. An extraordinary event occurred a bit later. As if by magic or magnetism, the bees that had not been dropped into the new hive, immediately started to crowd toward its entrance.? We've got the queen back in", announced Wladek, ??Just look at the colony's instinctive response to protect her. We've done all we could do for the time being, let's come back here in a few hours" .
When they came back to the apiary in the evening to close the hive they noticed that many bees remained outside, protecting the hive and the bees staying inside with the queen. They couldn??t risk the hive to be attacked again. Bees are an amazing species. They have got very strong instinct of survival and are using cooperation and teamwork as tools for achieving their lives?? goals.
The individuals can sacrifice themselves for the good of the community, since this is a community that helps to build a safe environment for the next kin.
Ireneusz left large pail of food for the bees who survived to help them to get re-established. In situations like the one described above Ireneusz, Wladek and other members of our group realize how wonderful it is to cooperate with each other and how important it is to support your friends when they need your assistance. This time special thanks go to Wladek and his perseverance; the bee colony will survive to see better honey filled days.
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