Who Eats Honey, It Doesn't Harm Or Kill Right? I Love Honey.?

Question

@Piscespet, now I feel bad, i love honey.

Answer 1

Don't feel guilty..   accidentally killing bees while obtaining honey is no different from anybody, vegetarians included, who deliberately kill insects by the billions when they fumigate their homes, spray insecticide on ants,cockroaches etc etc.  even just by walking, insects are killed..not to mention pest eradication programs done at crop farms..the only difference is, beekeepers and honey lovers don't normally lecture other people about the cruelty of their  actions..

Answer 2

I eat honey, and I'll provide you some REAL facts about why bees are smoked.

It isn't to kill, "fumigate," or punish the bees for the h**l of it.  When a hive is opened or disturbed, guard bees release a pheromone to excite the other bees into attack mode.  The smoke is used to mask the effect of the pheromone.  In other words, the bees can't smell the pheromone because of the smoke.  Also, the smoke makes the bees think the hive may be in danger of burning up (instinct from when they were wild and forest fires were common), so they begin to eat large amounts of the honey in the hive thinking that they may have to abandon the hive and relocate.  They essentially are trying to gather up as much honey as they can like if your house was on fire and you grabbed your family photos or something.  The bees eating is another way they are calmed, rather than sent into attack mode.

Also, think logically for one second about all these people telling you beekeepers don't "treat their colonies very well."  Isn't that a stupid argument?  Their bees are their livelihood.  Why would someone destroy their own livelihood?  If you owned a small business, would you go into work one day and burn the place down?  

The other guy's point about more insects being killed when you mow your lawn is a brilliant comparison as well.

Enjoy your honey.  It has been man's natural treat for thousands of years.

Answer 3

i love honey and peanut butter toast...yum

Answer 4

Piscespets has an excellent answer for you,.

Can I also add that commercial honey DOES harm and kill bees.

Commercial honey is harvested via fumigation - the bees are smoked out of the hives. Some will suffocate as they all panic to leave the hive.

Also, the queen bee is killed on a regular basis - when there is a new queen the workers will produce more honey.

I don't know if thats bothers you at all, but you should be aware that your premise of "It Doesn't Harm Or Kill Right?" is wrong.

Answer 5

i eat honey, and always from local amateur keepers.

i used to keep a couple of hives going, collecting swarms locally to re stock if a hive died over winter. i finally gave up after i lost the bees to varroa the second winter in a row, as i did not treat it not wanting to use chemicals, and stupidly hopeful my bees would be the ones to develop resistance. another factor was that i did NOT take off them some rape flower honey they had made in the spring; it sets hard a few weeks after they make it, and i found the remnant of the hive clustered on the comb unable to extract the honey which had gone rock hard.

i used to take less off them than i could have, and always early so that they had a chance to make more before winter, i would feed them cane sugar syrup to make up, which would go in with late summer nectar. before the varroa they were always very healthy.

commercial keepers in u.s. use corn syrup which is diferent chemically and has been implicated in the colony collapse disorder, as has overstocking and constant moving.

i never killed a queen, that's lazy, it just means you can get a bigger hive without it swarming, as younger queens lay better and let off more pheremones. as for bee deaths while working on the hive, i would guess a dozen or less each time, and these will be the older bees anyway, who are less cautious.

Answer 6

Honey is made from sucrose-rich flower nectar that is collected by honeybees and then regurgitated back and forth among them until it is partially digested. After the final regurgitation, the bees fan the substance with their wings until it is cool and thick. This mixture, which we call honey (which is essentially bee vomit), is then stored in the cells of the bees' hive and used as their sole source of nutrition in cold weather and other times when alternative food sources are not available. During the collection of flower nectar, the bees also pollinate plants. This is part of the natural process of life and is necessary and unavoidable. Even though humans inadvertently benefit, the bees do not pollinate plants in order to serve human needs; it is simply a secondary aspect of their nectar collecting. The honey that bees produce is stored in their hives for their own purposes. When humans remove honey from the hive, they take something that is not rightfully theirs.

To collect honey, beekeepers must temporarily remove a number of the bees from their home. During the course of bee management and honey collection, even the most careful beekeeper cannot avoid inadvertently injuring, squashing, or otherwise killing some of the bees. Other commodities may be taken from the hive as well, including beeswax, honeycomb, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly.

Bees are not harmed by the process of pollination -- it is something they would do whether or not humans were involved or reaped any profit. If one were to stretch the point, using honey could, in a broad sense, be considered analogous to dairying. Furthermore, there is no reason to take honey from bees other than to sell it. Utilizing bees to pollinate crops in no way necessitates ravaging their hive.

Answer 7

I like Honey in my Oatmeal.

Answer 8

The only time I use honey is in BBQ sauces or dipping sauces or stuff like that.

Sure, some bees are harmed/killed along the way but it's no different than animals getting killed during crop harvests.

I'm not a vegetarian. My OCD makes me answer vegetarian questions.

Answer 9

Both Michael H. and Piscespets are correct.

I would like to add the concern over declines in bee population. A decline in bee population can have some damaging affects on the environment and thus, our wallets. I would venture to say that while there are many causes to this decline in population, commercial destroying of bee populations using harsh chemicals and killing of queens could be a big cause for blame.

Overall, like most things in nature, it seems we are abusing what isn't even ours to use (unless, you prescribe to the logic of "I can, so I will" mentality).  Every action has a consequence, however.

Answer 10

on peanut butter, on rice cakes, by itself

Answer 11

No it does not kill anything. Its taken from trees i think. I love honey

its good on ceral and oats

Answer 12

Honey is nice but it is not too good for the teeth or figure - I try to steer clear. I like Honey Nut Cornflakes though - does this count?

Answer 13

i eat honey all the time i love it for its healign properties...that and it just tastes good but whenever i have a sore throat or sinus/allergies are acting up i take a spoonful...only bad thing is it high in sugar and can be bad for you if your borderline or even full blow diabetic.

Answer 14

yes, i love honey, especially on hot buttered toast!

also good as a marinade with soy sauce for chinese chicken.

nb/ honey is harmful to babies under one year.(apparently?  not sure why.)

Answer 15

I love honey, but you want to get it from a local bee keeper. The large operations don't take very good care of their bees.

BTW: you will kill more bugs walking across your lawn then the average bee keeper accidentally kills in a month. Mowing your lawn you will kill more bugs then he will accidently kill in his lifetime.

Answer 16

What I didn't know until recently when I went to visit a beekeeper is that because so much of the honey is taken to sell, many beekeepers have to feed the bees a syrup mixture to prevent the bees from starving to death. Of course this syrup mixture is a pure substitute and not as nutritious nor antiseptic as the honey is.

The bee keeper also raised other issues, one which I thought was particularly interesting was regarding propolis. The sap is collected by the bees but can be sourced from any tree or sticky substance. What is in the much sought after propolis that health food shops sell for its medicinal and nutritive qualities is anybodies guess. There is simply no way of knowing. It could be any sticky (sap like) substance!

Answer 17

The only time I use honey is in BBQ sauces or dipping sauces or stuff like that.

Sure, some bees are harmed/killed along the way but it's no different than animals getting killed during crop harvests.