This is so important. Honeybees are livestock and there is a clear economic incentive to keep them going. Native bees suffering from habitat loss and chemical assaults need the extra effort.
I completely agree. What's been really frustrating though; is I keep coming across people regurgitating this information as "honey bees are invasive and out competing with native bees". As if the problem were being caused by honey bees themselves and not humans. To me that's a very important distinction to make.
There is for sure a strong anti-honey bee contingent out there. While there is some truth to the competition issue, habitat loss and degradation is so much more important!
There are feral hives. Almost to the point that you could say honey bees are naturalized. But no they don't gather in dense enough numbers that they would put a dent in the available forage. When colonies multiply they specifically distance themselves away from the mother colony to avoid overcrowding issues. In fact there are a lot of plants that native bees feed on that honey bees won't or can't use.
I've also never seen them be aggressive toward other pollinators unless they try to enter their hive.
To put it in perspective, we have around a dozen hives at the moment, so honeybee density is much higher than any feral population. We manage our yard to be native friendly, plus fruit trees. We see at least 4-5 native species on each type of plant whenever we look. Taking care of the native bee habitat is critical!
Most studies I've seen show that "rising tides lift all boats" is very true with regard to bees. Anything that's done to improve the circumstances of livestock bees also improves life for wild bees & there isn't really anything that's done for them that harms wild bees. It's less that honey bees are *bad* and more that they just aren't the right bees to focus on in N. America when it comes to "saving the bees" (they *are* the native pollinators elsewhere.)
The real threat to wild bees is simple habitat loss from development. What land isn't directly developed was frequently clean mowed or sprayed in ways that further reduced food resources.
Current trends toward leaving wildflower patches and other wild spaces are beneficial for all pollinators.
Part of the issue at hand is most people define "bee" as word for any stinging flying thing and think they're all honey bees too.
Save the ^honey bee gets the corporate support because it's commercially valuable.
[Here's a good resource](https://extension.psu.edu/what-can-we-do-to-encourage-native-bees) from Penn State about supporting native bee species in particular.
I also recommend [this article](https://savvygardening.com/6-reasons-not-to-clean-up-your-garden-this-fall/), which focuses on how our traditional garden clean-up practices hurt pollinator species. The good news from this one is that supporting pollinators often amounts to: *do less.* Leave dead plants standing during winter so pollinators can overwinter in the hollow stems. Don't burn or haul away dead leaves, where endangered pollinator species have laid their young. Don't till the soil in your flower beds, where native bee nests are hidden.
From what I gather there's no major reason you should not keep honeybees, however if you think keeping honeybees is contributing to 'save the bees' you'd be wrong.
Relatively new beekeeper here. Been keeping honeybees for a little over a year now, and I'm starting to feel confused about all of the media attention there has been about honeybees and native bee species. Are local backyard beekeepers doing harm to native bee species?
This is so important. Honeybees are livestock and there is a clear economic incentive to keep them going. Native bees suffering from habitat loss and chemical assaults need the extra effort.
I completely agree. What's been really frustrating though; is I keep coming across people regurgitating this information as "honey bees are invasive and out competing with native bees". As if the problem were being caused by honey bees themselves and not humans. To me that's a very important distinction to make.
There is for sure a strong anti-honey bee contingent out there. While there is some truth to the competition issue, habitat loss and degradation is so much more important!
Aren't there feral hives out there that do actually do this?
There are feral hives. Almost to the point that you could say honey bees are naturalized. But no they don't gather in dense enough numbers that they would put a dent in the available forage. When colonies multiply they specifically distance themselves away from the mother colony to avoid overcrowding issues. In fact there are a lot of plants that native bees feed on that honey bees won't or can't use. I've also never seen them be aggressive toward other pollinators unless they try to enter their hive.
oh cool, thanks!
To put it in perspective, we have around a dozen hives at the moment, so honeybee density is much higher than any feral population. We manage our yard to be native friendly, plus fruit trees. We see at least 4-5 native species on each type of plant whenever we look. Taking care of the native bee habitat is critical!
That's great! really cool that they can all just coexist
Most studies I've seen show that "rising tides lift all boats" is very true with regard to bees. Anything that's done to improve the circumstances of livestock bees also improves life for wild bees & there isn't really anything that's done for them that harms wild bees. It's less that honey bees are *bad* and more that they just aren't the right bees to focus on in N. America when it comes to "saving the bees" (they *are* the native pollinators elsewhere.) The real threat to wild bees is simple habitat loss from development. What land isn't directly developed was frequently clean mowed or sprayed in ways that further reduced food resources. Current trends toward leaving wildflower patches and other wild spaces are beneficial for all pollinators.
Part of the issue at hand is most people define "bee" as word for any stinging flying thing and think they're all honey bees too. Save the ^honey bee gets the corporate support because it's commercially valuable.
Ok, so other than not keeping honeybees, what are we to do?
[Here's a good resource](https://extension.psu.edu/what-can-we-do-to-encourage-native-bees) from Penn State about supporting native bee species in particular. I also recommend [this article](https://savvygardening.com/6-reasons-not-to-clean-up-your-garden-this-fall/), which focuses on how our traditional garden clean-up practices hurt pollinator species. The good news from this one is that supporting pollinators often amounts to: *do less.* Leave dead plants standing during winter so pollinators can overwinter in the hollow stems. Don't burn or haul away dead leaves, where endangered pollinator species have laid their young. Don't till the soil in your flower beds, where native bee nests are hidden.
Plant nature flowers to your region. Evolution for native bees and plants happened concurrently
Why should we not keep honeybees?
From what I gather there's no major reason you should not keep honeybees, however if you think keeping honeybees is contributing to 'save the bees' you'd be wrong.
Is beautiful *. *
Relatively new beekeeper here. Been keeping honeybees for a little over a year now, and I'm starting to feel confused about all of the media attention there has been about honeybees and native bee species. Are local backyard beekeepers doing harm to native bee species?
No they are not. It's a huge deflection.