My wife told me about this custom when we moved into a new house and found a small bee hive in a hollow of an olive tree. We made it a habit to give them updates about various events that occurred and it became an important bonding event. She is now critically ill and I am not looking forward to sharing her death with our bees, but I'll do it as what I hope will be an important part of closure and dealing with loss. The bees themselves have been doing quite well and have spun off swarms several times. They are docile non-Africanized bees and I hope they will continue to keep making more bees for a long time!