JohnDonne wrote:I didn’t say bees shouldn’t exist or be used in agriculture if it makes sense to, just that I don’t like that their honey is harvested. They made it, let them have it.
Which reminds me of an idea I thought of. Bee populations are dwindling? Use a swarm of high tech bug drones.
In return for their honey bees are provided with safe accomodation and their health is monitored by the bee keeper. This seems like a reasonable exchange considering the honey is replaced with sugar which fulfils the requirements of the colony. I think bee keeping is an overall positive for the bees but I imagine it is hard to test their happiness.
Your levels of commitment to the cause are admiral though and I'm not going to suggest you are wrong not to enjoy the benefits of honey.
Dammit Nuke you beat me to it but I'm still going to post because I don't want to waste the effort it took to write it out.
For legal reasons, we are not threatening to destroy U.S. government property with our glorious medieval siege engine. But if we wanted to, we could. But we won’t. But we could.
Cockroaches will tend to invade the nests if a beekeeper isn't good.
Really seems like a solution to dwindling bee populations would be to encourage kids into becoming bee keepers/mead producers but not enough kids want to do it.
OH well. I suppose I will be forced to do it and shoulder that burden once I get a piece of land I suppose. I'll take that bullet. For the bees.
I would say for quid pro quo relationships there has to be the element of consent of both parties. The bees likely cannot comprehend the arrangement and so their consent would at best be assumed or implied.
On the other hand, it's not clear whether bees are essentially automatons or are actual philisophical persons capable of consent, it's a dicey question. One could argue that whether the bees consent or not they are actually getting a better arrangement than they would in nature.
I don't argue about honey much for these reasons, it's more of a staying on the safe side thing for me.
TheReal_ND wrote:Cockroaches will tend to invade the nests if a beekeeper isn't good.
Really seems like a solution to dwindling bee populations would be to encourage kids into becoming bee keepers/mead producers but not enough kids want to do it.
OH well. I suppose I will be forced to do it and shoulder that burden once I get a piece of land I suppose. I'll take that bullet. For the bees.
There are several colonies here on the farm looked after by a neighbor and I've watched her collect a couple of wild swarms in the past. The last swarm tried to settle in the farmhouse's chimney and had to be smoked out and then collected when they re-grouped in the hedgerow. Fascinating stuff IMO.
For legal reasons, we are not threatening to destroy U.S. government property with our glorious medieval siege engine. But if we wanted to, we could. But we won’t. But we could.
I would say for quid pro quo relationships there has to be the element of consent of both parties. The bees likely cannot comprehend the arrangement and so their consent would at best be assumed or implied.
On the other hand, it's not clear whether bees are essentially automatons or are actual philisophical persons capable of consent, it's a dicey question. One could argue that whether the bees consent or not they are actually getting a better arrangement than they would in nature.
I don't argue about honey much for these reasons, it's more of a staying on the safe side thing for me.
GrumpyCatFace wrote:Dumb slut partied too hard and woke up in a weird house. Ran out the door, weeping for her failed life choices, concerned townsfolk notes her appearance and alerted the fuzz.
I would say for quid pro quo relationships there has to be the element of consent of both parties. The bees likely cannot comprehend the arrangement and so their consent would at best be assumed or implied.
On the other hand, it's not clear whether bees are essentially automatons or are actual philisophical persons capable of consent, it's a dicey question. One could argue that whether the bees consent or not they are actually getting a better arrangement than they would in nature.
I don't argue about honey much for these reasons, it's more of a staying on the safe side thing for me.
The writen consent forms are filled out in triplicate but they are so small it's hard to read them without a microscope.
On a serious note the bees are free to leave the beehive at any point if they find the arrangement to be unsatisfactory.
Last edited by Montegriffo on Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
For legal reasons, we are not threatening to destroy U.S. government property with our glorious medieval siege engine. But if we wanted to, we could. But we won’t. But we could.
GrumpyCatFace wrote:Dumb slut partied too hard and woke up in a weird house. Ran out the door, weeping for her failed life choices, concerned townsfolk notes her appearance and alerted the fuzz.
TheReal_ND wrote:Cockroaches will tend to invade the nests if a beekeeper isn't good.
Really seems like a solution to dwindling bee populations would be to encourage kids into becoming bee keepers/mead producers but not enough kids want to do it.
OH well. I suppose I will be forced to do it and shoulder that burden once I get a piece of land I suppose. I'll take that bullet. For the bees.
There are several colonies here on the farm looked after by a neighbor and I've watched her collect a couple of wild swarms in the past. The last swarm tried to settle in the farmhouse's chimney and had to be smoked out and then collected when they re-grouped in the hedgerow. Fascinating stuff IMO.
They have a habit of making hives in the pipe yard where I work. There is an old man we call on to smoke them out and he takes them home with as much as the hive as he can intact. I helped him briefly but didn't get to watch the fun parts.
