Mangaluru: When a colony of bees was spotted on the compound wall of Indraprastha Vidyalaya in Uppinangady, recently, the obvious solution was to remove it. However, for Gavin Reshime, a class VIII student, it was an opportunity to put his passion for beekeeping into practice. Instead of allowing the hive to be destroyed, Gavin volunteered to safely relocate the colony to his home, where he later extracted nearly a litre of honey.What made the feat even more remarkable was that Gavin was not acting on impulse. His fascination with bees had begun with a science project that eventually earned him national recognition. His mother, Renuka, who teaches at the same school, said that Gavin had developed a smart electric smoker with Hive Monitoring System, which used a car’s reverse gear camera to help identify the queen bee without disturbing the hive. The project guided by Nishitha KK won a silver medal at the IRIS National Fair held at Adani International School, Ahmedabad, and a bronze medal at the INSEF National Science Fair in Rajkot. He also received an award from Zydus Lifesciences. The project was selected to represent India at an international science fair in Tunisia. However, Gavin could not participate because of the West Asia crisis, which affected travel. He also worked on another project related to bees.Rather than ending with the science fair, the project sparked a deeper interest in beekeeping. Determined to learn more, Gavin began working with beekeeper Manmohan Arambya, spending his school holidays observing bee colonies and learning the techniques of safely handling and relocating hives. That practical experience came in handy when a bee colony appeared on the school campus.Headmistress Veena R Prasad recalled that the school had decided to remove the hive after nearly three students were stung by bees. “We were discussing how to remove the colony to ensure the safety of our students. Gavin’s mother was aware of the situation. When Gavin heard about it, he immediately requested that the hive should not be destroyed, and offered to relocate it instead,” she said.Initially, the school was hesitant to allow a class VIII student to undertake such a risky task. “His parents assured us that he was well-trained and knew how to identify the queen bee and safely shift the colony. Even then, we were surprised by the size of the hive. There were far more bees than we had expected,” the headmistress said.Despite the challenge, Gavin successfully relocated the entire colony to his home, without harming the bees. Renuka K said her son already maintained a stingless bee box at home, and that this was his first successful relocation of a honeybee colony into a standard bee box.
