Honey, Bees are Dying at an Alarming Rate

There is a common misconception that honey bees make their honey especially for us.

Unfortunately this is far beyond the truth.

So, what is honey?

Honey is the honey bees' single source of food and essential nutrients during poorer weather and the winter months. Bees will visit up to 1500 flowers in order to collect enough nectar to fill its 'honey stomach'; which is a second, separate stomach in which enzymes begin to break down the nectar into honey. After the returning to the hive, this is regurgitated and chewed by 'house bees' to provide each member with an adequate supply, each bee producing just a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime: significantly less than most people would expect. Honey is fundamental to the hive's wellbeing.

There are claims that consuming honey helps the honey bee population thrive, which is simply not true. When farmers remove the honey from a hive, they replace it with a sugar substitute which is worse for the bees' health, as it lacks the essential nutrients, fats and vitamins that honey has. The bees often then exhaust themselves by working to replace the missing honey. During the removal of honey, the bees can die after stinging the farmers. Bees are already endangered, so this selective breeding narrows the population gene pool and increases susceptibility to disease and large-scale die-offs.

A successor queen is selected by a human instead of the reigning queen - both of whom have been "artificially inseminated." Queens can live for as long as five years, but most commercial beekeepers replace them every two years and often even yearly.  Queen bees often have their wings clipped by beekeepers to prevent them leaving the hive to produce a new colony elsewhere, which would then decrease productivity and lessen profit. Yes, they can feel pain.

We rely on bees more than we think. In fact, if bees die out, we will too.

But why is that, Phoebe?

Out of the 100 crop species that provide us with 90% of our food, 70% are pollinated by bees. Bees are the primary initiators of reproduction among plants, as they transfer pollen from the male stamens to the fame pistils.

These crops will no longer exist if bees go extinct.

Honey is not the only product of bee exploitation. The following are other bee products to avoid:

• Beeswax is secreted by bees to build their hives.
• Bee venom is obtained when the bee stings someone or something. The bee dies if she stings someone.
• Royal jelly is the nutritious food (for bees) fed only to the queen. 
• Propolis is plant resin collected by bees and mixed with enzymes. It is used around the hive as glue and as an antiseptic.
• Bee brood are bees that are not fully developed. 
• Bee pollen is pollen collected by bees in sacs on their legs.

What can I do to help?

Avoid honey, beeswax, propolis, royal jelly, and other products that come from bees. Agave nectar, rice syrup, molasses, sorghum, barley malt, maple syrup, and dried fruit or fruit concentrates can be used to replace honey in recipes. There is no excuse.

In addition to not buying bee products; plant bee-friendly flowers and flowering herbs in your garden, understand that honey bees aren't out to get you (they will only sting you if they are frightened), don't use chemicals and pesticides to treat your garden and if you see a tired bee, place some sugar water on a teaspoon next to the bee and it'll be flying away in no time!

Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions for future blog posts.

💓 Phoebe xoxo