Jerry Bromenshenk wrote:

JB> What's animal blood (and then someone will notice egg powder)
JB> doing in honey?  And then there will be some idiot who proclaims -
JB> MAD CHICKEN DISEASE!!

I wouldn't want to join the ranks of the idiots by any means,
but my first reaction to the idea of feeding animal parts to (I
thought!) herbivores was certainly to remember that this is how we
got ourselves into trouble with, precisely, mad cow disease.

Imagine my astonishment when Richard Cryberg wrote:

RC> I know very well my bees eat blood vigorously given the chance.
RC> It seems highly attractive to them and a natural food they desire
RC> when it is available.

Oh, the PR woes for the poor little bees now!  Innocence lost
forever...

But seriously, I suppose I *shouldn't* be so surprised.  I'm a
novice still, but I've seen my bees get very enthusiastic about
wet compost, and they also seem to like to lick the sweat off
my companion's T-shirt when we work our hive.  I suppose blood
is just another solution containing lots of attractive minerals
(and in this case, proteins too).

I don't think we can reasonably expect the layperson to have any
idea that bees would choose to eat anything other than flower nectar
and pollen, though.

RC> I do think the strong emotions expressed against this idea
RC> illustrate that some in our society have gotten way too far from
RC> having any understanding of where food comes from.

It comes from the fridge, of course.  ;-)



Anne, backyard beekeeper, Montreal.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html