The Great Honey Bee Swindle

So let’s talk about honey bees in the context of ‘Saving the Bees’.

Let’s cut the bull and cut to the chase as there’s way too much confusion/misinformation out there which is a hinderance to and detrimental to genuine bee saving.

May 20th each year since 2018 has been designated World Bee Day by the UN. This date is the birthday of the pioneer of modern beekeeping – Anton Janša.

But maybe in reality it should be World Honey Bee Day and bumble bees and solitary bees should get their own day: ‘ENDANGERED BEE DAY’

Context:
There are 3 basic types of bee on the planet.
Solitary Bees
Bumble Bees
Honey Bees

Of the 20,000+ species of bee on the planet only 8 are honey bees.
Around 40% of bee species are under pressure worldwide.
Honey bees are not in trouble. Repeat.
Honey bees are not in trouble.

Honey bees are primarily a ‘kept species’. There have never before been so many honeybees on the planet.
It is estimated that there are 100 million + hives on the planet..

It’s a multi billion euro/dollar industry. It is not nature or natural.

It’s a multi billion euro/dollar industry. It is not nature or natural.
These are farmed creatures.
Now this is not a rant against beekeeping. Many beekeepers follow us and agree with our messaging.
We are not anti-beekeeping.

This is rather a shout out to truth and clarity when it comes to the bees that are actually in trouble – native wild bees – bumblebees and solitary bees.

The language around bees is alarmingly ignorant. People say bee when referring to honey bees not realising or bothered that there are so many other species of bee. When talking about honey bees say honey bees. Why does this matter? Because when people hear ‘save the bees’ many presume bees means honey bees. Absolutely incorrectly.

So when people then decide to ‘help the bees’ they presume they should help honeybees (not in trouble if you remember) and so take actions that don’t actually help the bees that are indeed in trouble. In fact these actions in many cases are actually detrimental to bumble bees and solitary bees.

An example of this is deciding to install a honey bee hive in their garden or on their business premises to ‘help the bees’. And don’t even get us started on supposed nature reserves who knowingly get involved in this. There is no place on a nature reserve for kept honey bees. It’s a lie.

Many eNGOs and bee advocacies have been complicit in this myth that has been allowed to flourish that honey bees are an answer. They are simply not engaged enough or brave enough to seek out and tell the truth. To us this is unforgivable given the desperate state of bees and nature.

So if you bear with us let’s do some simple figures to help show why ever more hives of honey bees are exacerbating the problem and are in no way part of the solution

A healthy honey bee hive can have 60,000+ resident honey bees.

So let’s be fairer than fair and say that a hive has 30,000 honey bees actively foraging. Each of these foraging honey bees will make about 1000 flower visits in a day.
See where this is going?
Yep that equates to 30,000,000 flower visits per day. Just for one hive.
30 million.

THESE HONEY BEES COMPETE WITH NATIVE WILD BEES FOR SCARCE FOOD!

Now let’s take that number of flower visits in the context of a landscape that has seen diminishing floral resources over the past century.
What we get is more creatures foraging on fewer flowers.
This is the problem.
If you introduce a hive into an area it puts even more pressure on the wild bees in that area.
Not a hard concept to grasp is it? And this is before we even start to factor in the potential for spreading disease as hives are moved around and long term changes to local flora due to the influence of introduced honey bees.
Don’t believe us? Google it.
There’s loads of research out there. More needed.

So if you really want to help native wild bees:
DON’T KEEP HIVES KEEP FLOWERS!
Wildflowers. This will mean you will ultimately keep native wild bees. You’ll help bumble bees and solitary bees. The bees that are actually in trouble.

Resist the ‘save the bees’ industry that is monetising a lie and the gullibility of a general public that is ill-informed of the actual problem. Hives make money for someone. Hives make things worse. Saving bees campaigns run by large eNGOs with honey bees on the poster raise donations.

What these things don’t do is make things better for native wild #bees. They make it worse.

So for sure keep hives and honey bees if you want. No issue with that.
But don’t dress your hobby/business up as a solution.

It’s not.
At least admit it’s potentially part of the problem.
At least that.

Let's Talk!

The Great Honey Bee Swindle

So let’s talk about honey bees in the context of ‘Saving the Bees’.

A healthy honey bee hive can have 60,000+ resident honey bees.

If You Think Hives Are The Answer You Didn’t Understand The Question.

We’re saving endangered native wild bees.
We educate.
We advocate.
We take action.
We disrupt.

Want to help? Get in Touch

(+353) 87 950 1285

info@worldbeesanctuary.org

Quick Links

Contacts

World Bee Sanctuary is an AI Free Zone

ALL images captured on and copyright World Bee Sanctuary except honey bee images.

Let's Talk!

The Great Honey Bee Swindle

So let’s talk about honey bees in the context of ‘Saving the Bees’.

A healthy honey bee hive can have 60,000+ resident honey bees.

If You Think Hives Are The Answer You Didn’t Understand The Question.

We’re saving endangered native wild bees. We educate. We advocate. We take action. We disrupt.

Want to help? Get in Touch

(+353) 87 950 1285

info@worldbeesanctuary.org

Quick Links

Contacts

World Bee Sanctuary is an AI Free Zone

ALL images captured on and copyright World Bee Sanctuary except honey bee images.

We’re saving endangered native wild bees.
We educate.
We advocate.
We take action.
We disrupt.