Hi, vegan here. I just saw your post about eating honey and was wondering if you could explain? At first I just took it out of my diet cause it wasn’t that big of a deal for me, and then there’s always the people yelling how it’s stealing their food so I just went along with it since I didn’t care for it anyways. However, as of lately I need to add more carbs/sugar into my diet and was considering using honey since it’s natural. Pls help.

zoologicallyobsessed:

Hi there. Could you specify on what extactly you’d like explained about bees + honey? 

Long story short, bees in good conditions will make honey until their hive is so full of it they have no place to lay eggs. Beekeepers always leave the bees with enough honey to more than survive, and, if something happens to a hive, will give the bees plenty of easy food to be sure they don’t go hungry.

Removing the frames to get the honey out does inadvertently squish some of the bees, but removing the frames regularly is necessary anyway to check for disease that could wipe out the colony. 

Bees at honey farms have perfectly designed hives, are provided with access to unlimited food, are almost 100% guaranteed to be safe from predators, and will be treated if the colony gets sick. All the keepers take in return is some of the food that the bees would otherwise crowd themselves out with. Being kept for honey is good for bees, assuming it’s a responsible keeper. 

Please support your local beekeepers. Honey is good for you, and local honey is just about guaranteed to come from a humane source, unlike sugarcane and agave. Plus, honey can teach your immune system to not be allergic to the flowers that it was made from!