Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

Factory farming of bees

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  tecumseh 
#1 ·
From an article in which the author and those she interviews advocate a less intense management style. Decently written article, talks to actual beeks including Randy Oliver.


"...Meanwhile, commercial beekeeping has come to resemble other kinds of factory farming. While the bees themselves retain more freedom of movement than almost any other living creature raised by man, a commercial bee lot is more like a cattle feed lot than a wild meadow.

Beehives are crammed close together in rows just a few feet apart; in the wild, a square mile supports at the most three or four hives. A wild colony's diet is diverse, comprising pollen and nectar from myriad plants. To compensate for the lack of forage around bee lots, bees are typically fed high-fructose corn syrup, the same stuff that's contributing to a human health crisis. And just like other agricultural livestock, bees become stressed when you crowd them together. They're more susceptible to diseases and parasites, less able to function naturally.

It's all making some bee scientists wonder: Is the epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder real, or are the bees simply being worked to death?..."

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2007-08-01/news/are-bees-too-busy
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Beehives are crammed close together in rows just a few feet apart; in the wild, a square mile supports at the most three or four hives. A wild colony's diet is diverse, comprising pollen and nectar from myriad plants. To compensate for the lack of forage around bee lots, bees are typically fed high-fructose corn syrup, the same stuff that's contributing to a human health crisis. And just like other agricultural livestock, bees become stressed when you crowd them together. They're more susceptible to diseases and parasites, less able to function naturally.

It's all making some bee scientists wonder: Is the epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder real, or are the bees simply being worked to death?..."

QUOTE]

Substitute cubicles for beehives, coffee and donuts for HFCS and the average worker for bees and it sounds like corporate America.
 
#3 ·
shawnwri sezs:
Substitute cubicles for beehives, coffee and donuts for HFCS and the average worker for bees and it sounds like corporate America.

tecumseh replies:
it has been suggest to me by a couple of people that some folks would much like to reshape humans into the form of honeybees whereby we all just react to this or that physical stimulus in a very much 100% predictable way and when we are no longer represent any value to the hive toss ourselves unto the ice flow with little or no thought.

as jared diamond suggested human and animal density and disease and mutatation of disease seem to be closely associated.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top