I haven't heard any beekeepers (not that I've encountered many beekeepers) talk about their relationship with their bees. I guess I mean to ask: is keeping bees at all like having pets?
It is a bit like keeping pets, I guess, for a hobbyist like me. They are more like fish than like dogs or cats, though - they don't really care about me. And (this may sound harsh) I don't really care much about them as individuals. I have real fondness for each colony, but it doesn't bother me to squash one, if she's pestering me while I work the hive, for example.
Very fair, I'd say. The colony reproduces through swarming, and in many ways the colony behaves as a single, disjoint organism, with the queen acting as brain (i.e. hormone regulator) and also as female reproductive organ; drones bees act solely as the male reproductive organ, and workers provide every other function.
Thanks, it's an interesting idea and that article led to content about superorganisms, Daisyworld, and rivet-poppers.