There's a scene where the swiss beekeeper beheaded the bee queen for "seeking pleasure elsewhere". What for, it seemed cruel? It isn't properly explained in the movie.
shareIt's a swarm prevention technique. She would have taken a large portion of the colony with her. She might also have been a poor layer causing the hive to enter swarm mode.
shareIf I remember correctly that queen was a cross with a neighboring beekeeper's commercially supplied breed from over the mountain. He wanted to keep his bees pure descendants of a native swiss mountain breed. Black bees I think they were called.
I just did a search to see if I was right about the "black" breed, and found a more detailed explanation.
http://www.morethanhoneyfilm.com/protagonists.html
Fred Jaggi sets great stores by tradition. For him, it is an ingredient in his recipe for success. This implies that he exclusively keeps bees of a “local black breed”, known for swarming a lot, but also for producing more honey. “Their place is here, in the mountains, and it has to remain so.” The yellow bees (belonging to a beekeeper in the nearby valley) that sometimes wander over to his place are a great source of annoyance for him. One of his queens was just fecundated by a yellow drone and has been laying eggs bearing little half-breeds. With assured gestures, Jaggi seizes the treacherous queen, scolds her for her infidelity, and then severs her head by pressing his thumbnail on the edge of the honeycomb.share