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Bee Bread

nordicfoodlab.org

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Re: Bee Bread

#61

Post by jdswain »

SixSigma wrote: post #44
bradbeattie wrote: post #29

Are there any negative effects to harvesting this bee bread? > But the bees do not consume their pollen fresh. Instead, they take it into the hive and pack the granules into empty comb cells, mixing them with nectar and digestive fluids and sealing the cell with a drop of honey. Once processed in this way, the pollen remains stable indefinitely. Beekeepers call this form of pollen ‘perga’ or ‘bee bread’. This implies…

Milk is food for baby cows.

If there were still baby cow's. The baby cows are taken away from their mothers and slaughtered.

Re: Bee Bread

#62

Post by cgh »

jdswain wrote: post #61
SixSigma wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Milk is food for baby cows.

If there were still baby cow's. The baby cows are taken away from their mothers and slaughtered.

If that were true, all cows would be extinct within one generation. As someone who just visited a farm and bought a quarter of a cow for the freezer, I can say I saw various calves wandering around.

Re: Bee Bread

#63

Post by yawz »

kawsper wrote: post #58
yawz wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, up until very recently (relatively speaking), it was not really "harvesting", but it was "destroying the hive while getting the honey". Modern hive design (there are a few popular ones) allows us, beekeepers, to harvest the honey without harming the bees. It also allows us to manage the hive and the colony much more productively.

Could you link to the modern hive designs, and maybe tell a bit about them?

Certainly.

Langstroth Hive (that I use): https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Langstroth_hive

Top-bar Hive: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Horizontal_top-bar_hive

There are also less popular choices: - Warré - WBC - Long box hive

Here's a list by Wikipedia: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Beehive

Re: Bee Bread

#64

Post by PavlovsCat »

dpratt71 wrote: post #57
jcoffland wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All harvesting from bees is essentially stealing their food. Calling this stealing speaks more about humans than it does of bees. Why do we view bees as selfish? Another, more charitable view, is that the bees willingly share with humans. But they sting, you say. Bees only sting if you move rapidly, destroy their home or you catch them on a bad day, like right before a storm. On sunny days I have successfully harve…

Why would bees willingly share with humans?

Why do some humans help a wounded or hungry/thirsty animal they come across, even when there are no other humans around to signal virtue to? Why wouldn't a bee (colony) be nice just because it can and likes to? I'm not saying that is the reason, but why can't that be the reason, or part of it?

Re: Bee Bread

#65

Post by justinpombrio »

mathrawka wrote: post #59
jcoffland wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All harvesting from bees is essentially stealing their food. Calling this stealing speaks more about humans than it does of bees. Why do we view bees as selfish? Another, more charitable view, is that the bees willingly share with humans. But they sting, you say. Bees only sting if you move rapidly, destroy their home or you catch them on a bad day, like right before a storm. On sunny days I have successfully harve…

Stealing does not mean we view bees as selfish. Stealing means we know it is not ours, yet we take it without consent.

> we know it is not ours

Ownership is not a physical property of the world, it exists in the minds of people. The bees almost certainly have no notion of ownership, so saying that "we know it is not ours" speaks more about humans than it does of bees.

Re: Bee Bread

#66

Post by nommm-nommm »

fit2rule wrote: post #50
nommm-nommm wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It most certainly is not. You don't respond immediately to immunotherapy and certainly not in 10 minutes.

.. unless you've been doing the "10-minute fix" for some years ..

It still doesn't work that way though. The GP didn't describe immunotherapy, they described "take a substance, feel better in a few minutes" like an aspirin. That is just not how immunotherapy works.

Re: Bee Bread

#67

Post by dugword »

aetherson wrote: post #43
adrusi wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't going to go to a wild hive and collect their food. Apiarists make their own hives, and maintain them. An increased demand for bee bread would probably work to counteract declining honeybee populations, by spawning more human-managed hives.

Human-managed honeybee populations are not in decline.

Yes they are. That is exactly what the Colony Collapse Disorder crisis is all about. The hives managed by beekeepers for the purpose of pollenating crops are mysteriously dying off, and they are having a hard time finding replacement swarms to manage.

Re: Bee Bread

#68

Post by dpratt71 »

PavlovsCat wrote: post #64
dpratt71 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would bees willingly share with humans?

Why do some humans help a wounded or hungry/thirsty animal they come across, even when there are no other humans around to signal virtue to? Why wouldn't a bee (colony) be nice just because it can and likes to? I'm not saying that is the reason, but why can't that be the reason, or part of it?

I think it could be argued that the behavior you ascribe to humans exists for the same reason that some dogs chase after cars. That is, it is an ingrained behavior that tends to enhance our survival and is sometimes expressed or triggered in contexts where it doesn't really make sense.

In truth, I believe that life has a spiritual dimension, that my life has purpose, blah blah blah, but I find it useful on occasion to temporarily 'forget' that I believe such things.

Re: Bee Bread

#69

Post by ACow_Adonis »

mathrawka wrote: post #59
jcoffland wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All harvesting from bees is essentially stealing their food. Calling this stealing speaks more about humans than it does of bees. Why do we view bees as selfish? Another, more charitable view, is that the bees willingly share with humans. But they sting, you say. Bees only sting if you move rapidly, destroy their home or you catch them on a bad day, like right before a storm. On sunny days I have successfully harve…

Stealing does not mean we view bees as selfish. Stealing means we know it is not ours, yet we take it without consent.

I hope I'm not the only hacker news reader who views the discussion/association of human social constructs and anthropomorphism such as property and consent to a colony of insects as hilariously comical...

/and my mother was an entomologist, so I'm perfectly happy with allusions between humans/insects even if most polite/modern society find such offensive...

Re: Bee Bread

#70

Post by Retra »

jcoffland wrote: post #55
saalweachter wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All harvesting from bees is essentially stealing their food. Modern hive designs allow a beekeeper to take excess honey or pollen from a hive non-destructively. The trick is to only take it from strong hives, while leaving the bees a sufficient quantity to overwinter. Honey is the overwinter food; beekeepers typically try to leave the bees about 80 lbs, depending on the climate. Pollen is much more important for rais…

> All harvesting from bees is essentially stealing their food. Calling this stealing speaks more about humans than it does of bees. Why do we view bees as selfish? Another, more charitable view, is that the bees willingly share with humans. But they sting, you say. Bees only sting if you move rapidly, destroy their home or you catch them on a bad day, like right before a storm. On sunny days I have successfully harve…

It's a man-eat-bee-food world, and the bees aren't morally or physically empowered enough to defer this behavior.
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