We shouldn't eat honey!

I have honey bees on the flowers all year round, but the thing they love most is the cordyline flowers (those huge, rather ugly cream sprays).

I don't know where they come from but would think they are hive bees rather than wild bees.

What is causing the problem in the South East, is the decimation of the hedgerows by massive housing developments. I guess that is not a problem in China.

I grow a garden full of snowdrops and crocus to help the early bees. Although we have local hives, mine and white bottomed bumble bees. Last year, they were out before many of the flowers, so I put tepid sugar water out - yes not great but it does keep them alive. They love my daffodils too and will come back for the bluebells, even though by then only the young are not too fat to get in, but I have other flowers for them. Now the honey bees are all over the plum and apple blossom, but I will not see them until next year.

I don’t eat it because after allergy tests on the skin it was found, surprisingly, I am allergic to honey. It is so rare it cannot be tested through the blood, as such a test does not exist.

yeah but now there are far too many humans.....

Maremia

Honey has been consumed by humans for millennia.

But we haven't been using pesticides that kill bees for millennia.

Ah, thanks VV. I am sure I knew that once upon a long time ago.

Autocorrect is going berserk today.

(It just changed berserk to Western 😀)

silverlining48

When my grandchildren were babies/ young they weren’t allowed to have honey. I was never sure why.

You're not supposed to give honey to babies under the age of one because there is a risk of infant botulism.

Not part friendly!!

Bee-friendly

suelld

And if imported from New Zealand where the country is fast and the bees not particularly endangered?

Unfortunately New Zealand bee populations are endangered due to several factors, one being the Varroa mite which has almost completely eliminated feral bees. Honeybees are almost entirely dependent on bee keepers.
I haven't seen much New Zealand honey on the shelves in the UK for some time.

It's not a vast country, although it is far less densely populated than the UK. People are being encouraged to plant more pet-friendly flowers.

Oh and stop cutting down trees to accomodate huge data centres. Planting trees is the solution to climate change.

When my grandchildren were babies/ young they weren’t allowed to have honey. I was never sure why.

I will stop eating honey when google stops consuming massive amounts of energy.

This is too absolute and alarmist. Why don't we plant more flowers / flowering trees and shrubs? And herbs like thyme, borage, lavender, clover and wild fennel? The most effective actions are simple, cheap, and science-backed. If you want the biggest impact with minimal effort:
Plant native flowering plants;
Don’t use pesticides;
Let part of your space grow naturally... do not remove dandelions etc.

I only buy locally produced honey to have with my wild foraged teas. Nettle is an excellent source of nutrients, add a few Cleavers and Dandelion - even better.

suelld

And if imported from New Zealand where the country is fast and the bees not particularly endangered?

Bees native to New Zealand still need help. I found this:
While keeping honey bees is relatively easy, they’re not native to New Zealand - meaning that they’re in direct competition with our native bee species. None of the 28 species of bees native to the island produce honey, rendering them less profitable than the farmed honey bee, but they remain vital to New Zealand’s ecosystem. As many as 224 plant species depend on native bee species to pollinate them, but they can be disrupted by the more social and aggressive honey bee.

Used to keep a small number of hives We now only have one hive and that was one that a wild swarm decided to move into. Occasionally we might take honey from a single frame. Even so the hive can become really light at the end of winter and in which case we will feed them. After all they are good pollinators

Borfmum

We have one hive in our garden and consume the honey made by our own bee's. We support other pollinators by keeping our garden as natural as we possibly can. We don't mow the grass and encourage wild flowers rather than planting hybrids. We have bee hotels and keep small piles of rotting wood for all manner of small creatures.

Sounds wonderful

vegansrock

Maple syrup is a good substitute for honey in lots of recipes.

Love both!

For this reason I haven't eaten honey for many years. Instead I make dandelion "honey"
My Granddaughter always asks for Nanas special honey.

We have one hive in our garden and consume the honey made by our own bee's. We support other pollinators by keeping our garden as natural as we possibly can. We don't mow the grass and encourage wild flowers rather than planting hybrids. We have bee hotels and keep small piles of rotting wood for all manner of small creatures.

VAST not fast!

And if imported from New Zealand where the country is fast and the bees not particularly endangered?

mum2three

Piffle! Destroying the countryside is what is harming the eco system. Schools need to teach about how nature works. I don't think this government understands how vital plants and trees are. Honey was used before we discovered sugar, it's a perfectly natural food.

You can still help the endangered native bees even if you eat honey.

Honey is harvested the same way silk is harvested from silkworms, using the insects as workers. So it's a natural food but farmed just like all our food, and that always has implications for the natural world.

But yes, it has to be the proper types of organic honey mentioned in a few posts upthread.