The latest buzz

COEUR d’ALENE — Kelli Austin quickly greeted two guests who stopped to look at the glass case filled with honeybees.

"Ladies, did you find the queen? She’s got a red dot," she said.

The women initially shook their heads. They didn't see it on a Thursday afternoon at the North Idaho State Fair.

Then, they did. The red dot was near the center of action.

"Oh, I see it right there," one woman said. "They're on top of her. That's why you can't see her."

As the visitors to the Inland Empire Beekeepers Association's booth walked away, one commented, "They're so busy."

Austin nodded in agreement.

"They never stop."

The buzz keeps building about the honeybees in Building 3.

Sure, the music, rides, entertainment, food and 4-H critters are main attractions, but the honeybees have proven to have a sweet sound.

The IEBA booth offers a hive of information. Containers of honey for sale, books, displays, charts and a beekeeper's suit are there, along with two observation cases, each containing about 10,000 bees going about their business.

Then, there are people like Austin and Sue Eckhardt, both association members and relatively new to the hobby of beekeeping. They love sharing the buzz on bees.

"Being hands on, you really learn," Eckhardt said.

While admitting it's more work than she thought, and a bit more money, Eckhardt said she's fascinated by bees — how they work, what they do and how each carries out its duties.

"And honey is wonderful," she said, smiling. "I call it the nectar of gods."

Honeybees don't have it easy.

While the queen bee can live a few years, the worker bees and drones have short lives, maybe five or six weeks.

They face threats from pesticides, varroa mites and loss of habitat. Even hornets are an enemy.

"These aren't the bad guys," Eckhardt said, pointing to a picture of a honeybee. "These are the bad guys," she added, moving her finger to pictures of yellowjackets and hornets.

She wants to be clear that honeybees bring benefits to people, not just by producing honey, but as pollinators.

"Bees are our friend," she said.

Austin said she's worked with pigs, sheep, goats and dogs in years past. Bees seemed like a logical next step, and her first year of beekeeping has been a joy.

"I love it," she said.

While her bees have produced a good amount of honey, she likes having them around for another reason.

"I know that my garden can do better if you’ve got pollination going on," she said.

As Austin has watched, listened and learned, she has found her bees are survivors, able to adapt to challenging conditions.

"If it gets too hot or too cold, they flap their little wings to do what they need to do, bring in more heat or bring in more cool," she said.

Such is her honeybee connection that she lets them land on her when she's not wearing a bee suit for protection from stings.

Even she admits that can be dangerous because she could have an allergic reaction.

But Austin is a believer in bees.

"If I'm cautious they don’t do anything," she said. "They're extremely friendly."

That's almost unbee-lievable.