Plus queens are often dewinged so they don’t fly away.
Not dewinged. Beekeepers don’t go around pulling wings off of queens.
Some beekeepers will clip part of a queen’s wing, similar to how people with pet birds will sometimes clip a wing. This doesn’t hurt the queen just like it doesn’t hurt the bird.
That said, I don’t think it’s as common of a practice as it once was, as its benefits are pretty questionable (especially vs the risks). I expect when it happens, it’s new/hobby beekeepers who read about it in a book somewhere and don’t know any better.
I’ve heard, but have next to no proof, that in winter, drones are suffocated because they will eat the honey that they make instead of humans getting it.
That’s ridiculous. You’ve been lied to.
It’s true that drones die in winter, but it’s because the hive itself makes the decision to evict the drones - the workers force them out and then they starve, freeze, or are eaten by predators. This is true of wild colonies as well as managed ones, and is how the life cycle of the honey bee has evolved.
Bees are literally the worst example of humans exploiting an animal. The bees choose to live in the beekeepers boxes. They can and do leave if they decide they are not treated well by the keepers.
They overproduce honey when in a keepers box. They do not use it all and any competent keeper does not take all the produced honey at once.
Similar to how we harvest cinnamon, we take enough to use but not enough to cause detriment to the source.
Bees are not like chickens or other livestock where they’re forced into small areas and kept only as long as useful then slaughtered. The biggest thing that threatens bees is not the keepers but anyone nearby who uses pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides… Which isn’t usually the keepers.
Not dewinged. Beekeepers don’t go around pulling wings off of queens.
Some beekeepers will clip part of a queen’s wing, similar to how people with pet birds will sometimes clip a wing. This doesn’t hurt the queen just like it doesn’t hurt the bird.
That said, I don’t think it’s as common of a practice as it once was, as its benefits are pretty questionable (especially vs the risks). I expect when it happens, it’s new/hobby beekeepers who read about it in a book somewhere and don’t know any better.
That’s ridiculous. You’ve been lied to.
It’s true that drones die in winter, but it’s because the hive itself makes the decision to evict the drones - the workers force them out and then they starve, freeze, or are eaten by predators. This is true of wild colonies as well as managed ones, and is how the life cycle of the honey bee has evolved.
Humans have absolutely nothing to do with it.
Bees are literally the worst example of humans exploiting an animal. The bees choose to live in the beekeepers boxes. They can and do leave if they decide they are not treated well by the keepers.
They overproduce honey when in a keepers box. They do not use it all and any competent keeper does not take all the produced honey at once.
Similar to how we harvest cinnamon, we take enough to use but not enough to cause detriment to the source.
Bees are not like chickens or other livestock where they’re forced into small areas and kept only as long as useful then slaughtered. The biggest thing that threatens bees is not the keepers but anyone nearby who uses pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides… Which isn’t usually the keepers.
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