• Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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    1 month ago

    Best friend’s a vegan who raises bees. He doesn’t clip wings or use smoke. From what I gather he basically just maintains their boxes, feeds them sugar when it’s too cold for em, and collects honey when it’s time. Someone is about to come along and say “he’s not a vegan. Sounds like a vegetarian” and then I’m going to think “sounds like you’re gatekeeping a lifestyle like it’s a religion, and not even all vegans who don’t use honey agree on whether or not a vegan can use honey” but I won’t, because I don’t wanna get wrapped up in the nonsense.

    But either way, yes, some vegans do use honey. And some, like that theoretical commenter, don’t eat anything that casts a shadow.

      • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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        1 month ago

        Iunno, never personally seen it. Just heard about it online when I first started looking into beekeeping (which I ultimately did not take up).

        Still interested in doing it (the keeping not the clipping), if you have any advice on getting started for someone with like 18 dollars between paydays. Lol

        • littlewonder@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I’ll say many cities have a club that rents out supplies or even has club hives you can use to get started. Also, I don’t live in a huge city and I’ve seen used hives and frames for sale more than I thought I would, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for those as well.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        People who don’t understand bees and think that the queen is ruling the hive – if the queen can’t swarm then they’re going to dispose of her and raise a new one. All you’re doing is weakening the hive without actually preventing it from swarming. You might even kill it off.

        You let them swarm, you let them get their rocks on, and you also have a nice property ready for them to settle back into.