Vegans please explain why honey is wrong

Thanks, vegansrock, I will try not to argue with my vegan son in future.

Thanks Vegan.

A good reason not to eat bought cakes and ready meals which contain battery eggs.

I've also been advised to only buy locally produced honey and not commercial types as it still contains all the enzymes and goodness which does you good. Local rape honey didn't quite cure me of my horrendous cough and hay fever symptoms when the rape is in bloom but it nearly has. Commercial honey had no effect.

When we lived in Cornwall we kept ex battery hens. They looked very handsome when their feathers regrew and lived happy lives decimating the garden. We didn't bother about artificial lighting so they just had a break from laying in the winter and started up again in the spring.

There are many unethical practices in commercial bee keeping. Conventional beekeepers aim to harvest the maximum amount of honey, with high honey yields being viewed as a mark of success. When farmers remove honey from a hive, they replace it with a sugar substitute which is significantly worse for the bees’ health since it lacks the essential micro-nutrients of honey.
In conventional beekeeping, honey bees are specifically bred to increase productivity. This selective breeding narrows the population gene pool and increases susceptibility to disease and large-scale die-offs. Diseases are also caused by importing different species of bees for use in hives. These diseases are then spread to the thousands of other pollinators we and other animals rely on, disputing the common myth that honey production is good for our environment. In addition, hives can be culled post-harvest to keep farmer costs down. Queen bees often have their wings clipped by beekeepers to prevent them leaving the hive to produce a new colony elsewhere, which would decrease productivity and lessen profit. There are many bee species and only 7 are honey bees, honey bees are not essential for large scale pollination. Honey is not essential to eat, plenty of other sweeteners available for those who choose.
As for eggs, chickens are the most abused and exploited animal on the planet. Male chicks are crushed to death within hours of hatch, chickens in their natural wild variety would only lay eggs two or three times a year, but they have been over bred to lay repeatedly which depletes the calcium in their bones and leaves them weak and lame, hence those who keep ex battery hens often feed chickens with their own eggs to replace the calcium. they are sent to slaughter when they are past their usefulness, worn out from repeatedly laying, crippled or diseased.
Thats why some people choose not to eat honey or eggs. It’s a choice, those who choose to eat them should not smirk at or belittle those who don’t. I’m not or criticising people who choose to eat animal products , I’m answering the OP.

Where's vegansrock when we need her?

Coincidentally, when I watched A Perfect Planet this afternoon, the wasp in the centre of the fig was explained. The female loses her wings as she makes her way to the centre of the flower and can't get out again once she has laid her eggs. Perfect food for gibbons!

The person who gave away the eggs probably found the idea of eating an egg repellent !

My son has been vegan for several years. He won't eat honey at all.
He also won't eat eggs, or anything with egg in it, like Quorn products.
I said if the hens are well cared for, and present you with an egg each day in return, what's the harm in eating it?
He said the eggs should be fed back to the hens.
I said who would take the time and trouble of keeping hens then? ?‍♀️
He does sit on our leather sofas though...

I m not a vegan Fanny and I m only saying vegans don’t have to give reasons it’s their choices I didn’t say they ate eggs You misunderstood my post

I have some bone china mugs that I used when my vegan niece visited, only realised later but thankfully she either didn't notice or it didn't matter to her.

The idea that human "meddling" is unacceptable completely misses the point that each species meddles in others in order to live.

I think it is a pretty rubbish idea, but then I did not create such a world.

The world is predicated on creatures killing other creatures in order to live; on the stronger creatures exploiting the weaker.

We may not like the idea, but there it is - that is what the world is all about.

One might question why it is like it; and why we might at the same time have been given finer feelings that baulk at this system; but it is what it is.

If there is some grand plan, it totally eludes me. I just accept what is.

This is why I mostly do not watch wild life programmes - it is just an unremitting saga of killing.

Oldwoman70

GillT57 According to a Guardian article a few years ago millions of acres of rainforest have been destroyed for soya production leading to loss of biodiversity

Yes that's right, chiefly for animal feed.

As I understand it, the more 'fervent' or puritanical vegans do not like to eat anything where man has meddled, so keeping bees for the purpose of harvesting honey, and practices such as artificial pollination of avocados etc.

BlueBelle

I think it’s such a small amount of vegans that don’t eat honey that I see no reason why we are questioning them it’s their choices surely perhaps there doesn’t have to be a solid reason the fact that they are uncomfortable with it should be enough The same with eggs

I think that you are confusing veganism and vegetarianism BlueBelle.
If you eat eggs, you are absolutely not a vegan.

GillT57 According to a Guardian article a few years ago millions of acres of rainforest have been destroyed for soya production leading to loss of biodiversity

Fruit farmers will keep or rent hives in their orchards for obvious reasons, it increases the crop and more than enough honey is produced for the bees themselves.

I usually buy local honey but unfortunately haven't seen the honey lady since lockdown.
In the meantime I'm trusting Prince Charles to look after his bees properly.
???

Ps. Having honey bees in the garden also attracts other species of bees.

My husband is a bee keeper and works with a local bee farmer. They def don’t kill off their bees! Vegans are opposed to bee products including honey because the bee keeps/ farmers take their honey and wax which they consider to be inhumane and upsetting the cycle of nature. Without bee keepers there would be a lot less bees and therefore pollinations levels would be much lower. We need bees and bee keepers! Ps. I’m not a great fan of honey but use it my cooking and I’m allergic to bee stings but wouldn’t let my husband get rid of his hives when he offered. I love having them in the garden.

EV Interestingly enough, it is the destruction of forests, specifically rain forests in places such as Brazil, to create grazing land for cattle for human consumption, that is the reason cited by many vegans for their decision.

There are thousands of species of bees that pollinate many different plants. There are only seven recognised species of honey bee, and they only pollinate specific crops.
www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/why-go-vegan/honey-industry

Saving forests is more important !

On the subject of milk, it isn't natural for cows to be continually lactating. While a cow's life span could be 20 years, their milking prowess drops off after about 7 years, and they're usually then sold for slaughter

Inside. Snide. Honestly, I ask you!

I’m not sure how the COVID-19 vaccine is produced but is it acceptable in veganism ?