Guest guest Posted April 18, 2007 Report Share Posted April 18, 2007 >A bee person may correct me, but depending on the technique for >retrieving the honey, the beekeeper may allow the bees to die OR may >give the bees some sort of sugar to replace the honey --\ --------------------- Hey ya'll! I'm new to this group and to being veggie, but I wanted to weigh in on this one. I am 110% against all forms of animal cruelty and am active in my community animal rescue programs. However, my dad and I have been keeping bees since I was ten years old, and I can say honestly that it is NOT cruelty. The only way to increase a bee hive's productivity is to give it exactly what it needs. It is in the beekeeper's best interest to keep his or her bees in the best possible condition! It isn't like factory farming where the animals are confined unnaturally, or egg farms where the chickens are forced into accelerated bio-cycles by starvation and light deprivation. While harvesting honey did, at one time, mean destroying the hive and letting the bees die, it hasn't been that way in the US for decades. The invention of the Langstroth hive (the square, box-looking hives that stack) meant that beekeepers could harvest the honey without hurting the hive. After the honey is harvested, you feed the bees sugar syrup over the winter, and you will have a bigger, stronger hive for next year! Bee pollen is another thing I've noticed a lot of vegans avoid, IMO, needlessly. Bee pollen is all plant matter, and it doesn't harm the bees a bit when it's gathered for humans to use. The beekeeper puts these little brush-strip things at the entrance to the hive and it brushes some of the pollen off the bees as they go in. Beekeepers only harvest pollen at certain times of the year and they are very careful to make sure the bees have plenty left for themselves, so that the hive stays strong and healthy. Most people outside of the beekeeping community don't know this, but wild honeybees are almost extinct in North America due to diseases and pesticides. Without " kept " honeybees, we would face widespread famine and economic disaster, as a vast majority of the food crops we grow depend on honeybees to pollinate them. In my opinion, honey and bee pollen is just fine for vegans, but even if you choose to avoid bee products, remember that bees (and beekeepers *S*) are still an important part of your nutritional process! Anybody still reading this, thanks for the rant time. NIF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 19, 2007 Report Share Posted April 19, 2007 NIF, I'm trying to make a transistion form vegetarian to vegan (for both health and ethical reasons) and honey is one thing that I cannot yet give up as I use it in a lot of home remedies. I would be VERY interested in any documents, or research you could give me that I could use to justify the continued use of honey! Thanks, Noelle -- " Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. " -Mother Teresa (1910-1997) missionary, Nobel Peace Prize winner " God sells us all thing at the price of labor. " -Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian painter, sculptor and inventor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 19, 2007 Report Share Posted April 19, 2007 Hi Noelle, I have a mostly vegan diet, but don't really see anything wrong with using honey. I have kept bees, and they are free to come and go and do their thing. They make excess honey, and humans harvest that excess. You don't kill or hurt them to harvest the honey, if you know what you are doing and do it carefully. Also, honeybees are endangered and disappearing, probably due mostly to habitat loss and some scientists think that GMO pollen may also be to blame. We definitely need them for pollination of our crops, and they could use our care. I see it as a symbiotic relationship, not exploitation. Bryan , " Noelle Olson " <noelle.olson wrote: > > NIF, > > I'm trying to make a transistion form vegetarian to vegan (for both health > and ethical reasons) and honey is one thing that I cannot yet give up as I > use it in a lot of home remedies. I would be VERY interested in any > documents, or research you could give me that I could use to justify the > continued use of honey! > > Thanks, > > Noelle > > -- > " Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. " > -Mother Teresa (1910-1997) missionary, Nobel Peace Prize winner > > " God sells us all thing at the price of labor. " > -Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian painter, sculptor and inventor > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2007 Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 I concur, Bryan. As for the honeybee population, I have also heard the hypothesis that EMF waves from cell phones could be to blame. It makes you wonder what all our electronic gadgets may be doing to us with their various energy emissions. I can tell you I'm constantly bathed in the stuff from my computer, TV, radio, etc.. -Erin www.zenpawn.com/vegblog , " brbrunner " <brbrunner wrote: > > Hi Noelle, > > I have a mostly vegan diet, but don't really see anything wrong with > using honey. I have kept bees, and they are free to come and go and > do their thing. They make excess honey, and humans harvest that > excess. You don't kill or hurt them to harvest the honey, if you > know what you are doing and do it carefully. > > Also, honeybees are endangered and disappearing, probably due mostly > to habitat loss and some scientists think that GMO pollen may also be > to blame. We definitely need them for pollination of our crops, and > they could use our care. I see it as a symbiotic relationship, not > exploitation. > > Bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 Hi Erin, Yeah, I think about the electromagnetic bombardment all the time. Sort of like living way out in the country where we barely have cell signal!!! Bryan , " Erin " <truepatriot wrote: > > I concur, Bryan. As for the honeybee population, I have also > heard the hypothesis that EMF waves from cell phones could be > to blame. It makes you wonder what all our electronic gadgets > may be doing to us with their various energy emissions. > > I can tell you I'm constantly bathed in the stuff from my > computer, TV, radio, etc.. > > > -Erin > www.zenpawn.com/vegblog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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