Satkhira family lives with bees
The family collects honey from the beehives and earns Tk50,000 a year by selling it
Twenty-six large beehives are hanging from different parts of the two-storey house, including the balconies and walls. Every year, bees stay here for eight months and have become members of the house which came to be known as "bee house" situated in Debhata upazila of Satkhira.
The house belongs to shrimp farmer Sheikh Abu Saeed from village Kora in Sakhipur union of the upazila.
He said seven years ago he suddenly noticed seven to eight beehives in different parts of the house. Since then, swarms of bees come here at specific times each year and make hives in different places of the building and more bees are coming.
Saeed said his wife and daughter take care of them. Bees stay at the house from November to June.
"We feel very bad when they leave us. We eagerly wait for them to come again," he said.
His wife Ranjila Begum said bees do not make houses that dirty. There are beehives on both sides of the living room. They collect food from nature.
"At the beginning, we were afraid of bee stings but they have not attacked anyone so far. I feel good when many people come to see the beehives. We also collect honey from the beehives twice during the eight months they stay here. We sell honey worth Tk50,000 a year. Neighbours and relatives also take pure honey from us."
Expressing grief, she said once a neighbour sprayed poison on the beehives out of jealousy and many bees died and those who survived fled.
"Everyone in the family cried thinking that they might never come back but they have returned," she said.
Her daughter Fatema Khatun said bees help the family financially. Usually, they do not attack anyone unless they are provoked.
Sheikh Faruk Hossain Ratan, chairman of Debhata's Sakhipur Union Parishad, said whenever he goes to adjacent areas, he goes to the house to see the beehives.
Krishnapada Mallick, an official of Satkhira Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, said these bees are of the "Mellifera" species, available in the Sundarbans. This species makes their home in places where they have security, a living environment and plenty of food sources around. Once they form hives somewhere, they leave signs there and return to the same place next time.
