Day 16: All Hail the Sovereign of the Yard
A Legendary Queen Get's Her Name.
Amanda Collins
6/7/20262 min read
After the high-stakes, breathless rescue mission I pulled off yesterday to save Queen Ethel (who, as it turns out, isn't broken at all—just a rookie queen needing a little coaching!), I woke up this morning with a serious case of royal injustice weighing on my mind.
I realized it wasn't fair. I gave Queen Ethel a beautiful name to honor her (deferred) retirement, essentially preparing to throw her a farewell party for a failing hive. Meanwhile, sitting right across the yard, my legendary "Workhorse Queen" has been quietly, fiercely building a literal empire at an astonishing pace of about one entire hive box per month!
The yard I stand in today is turning into her territory. It’s her world; the rest of us are just living in it. So today, June 7th, it is time to correct the ledger. Today, the undisputed MVP of my apiary finally gets her name.
Meet Queen Freyja. 👑⚔️🐝
I chose this name with care, drawing straight from Norse mythology. Freyja isn’t some dainty, passive goddess of folklore. She is the badass Norse goddess of love, beauty, and immense fertility—but she is also a fierce warrior who commands absolute control. In the old legends, she rides a chariot pulled by giant cats and gets first pick of the fallen warriors for her heavenly field, even before Odin himself.
My Freyja lives up to every single bit of that legendary status:
The Empire Builder: She is an absolute laying machine, single-handedly providing the biological engine that fuels our yard.
The Strategic Commander: When I split her over into The Ranch, she didn't skip a beat. She just kept expanding her realm while leaving behind the perfect genetic blueprint for the next generation.
The Lifesaver: It was her massive workforce and her offspring that created grand Queens for both The Keep and The Vault.
Freyja doesn't just lay eggs; she commands a dynasty. She is the genetic backbone of our entire operation, a true warrior queen who has earned every bit of her crown.
So, let the word ring out across the clover fields: All hail Queen Freyja, Sovereign of the Vanguard, Builder of Empires, and the true powerhouse of our yard!
📜 Moral of the Day
Don't wait for retirement to give credit where credit is due. It’s easy to focus all my energy on the squeaky wheels and the rescue missions, but I must never forget to stop, look at the roaring successes, and crown the workhorses who carry the weight of the world on their wings.