this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I mean bees are producing way more than they are using. We just shouldn't take it all.

[–] LordWiggle 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's a buffer for when the climate is different then normal so they will need more food...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's not true, bees really do produce more than one colony needs. The thing is that when they have no more room to store honey some bees will take a large portion of it and leave to start a new colony which is bad for you as a beekeeper and other insect species. The way I see it you definitely should take the honey. Just leave some for the winter.

[–] LordWiggle -3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Bees weren't made by humans. They can survive on their own. They work until they die out of exhaustion due to the hard work, they work because of need, not of joy. Whenever they split up when there is enough honey, they spread around. That's how bees work. By limiting them to one colony by partially starving them, we endanger the species. It's already going bad for bees, due to urbanization, perticides, climate change but also colony starvation for honey production.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No one is talking about starving the bees. Someone already pointed out that bees are territorial and not great for the local insect population. You can let bees spread but there are better ways to do it. Bees do work because they think they need to, the thing is you can help them and have leftover honey that they don't need to use. You don't even need to limit the to one colony.

But to be fair our bees are nowhere near any urban areas nor pesticides so it might be different elsewhere.

[–] LordWiggle 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So far, trying to control nature isn't going that well. The more we do, the more we fuck it up. Maybe we should give nature some time to recover from our destruction without intervention.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Generally you're not wrong but when it comes to European honey bees (which are the most common for honey production) they are presumed extinct in the wild. They need to be treated multiple times throughout the year (and it's increasing due to climate change). Also these bees have been imported to Americas where they are not native so controlling them is very important there.