In a message dated 16/02/2009 22:37:40 GMT Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Are bees  LIVESTOCK?   And, do bees benefit  LIVESTOCK?



Unless your colony dies you have livestock. Anyone who has livestock has  
deadstock from time to time.  Does the definition of LIVESTOCK include only  
those beasts to which somebody can claim ownership and maybe pay taxes, or does  
it include the way our planet is stocked with living creatures?
 
Aside from the bees providing, through pollination, a proportion of the  food 
we eat directly and, through animal fodder, that which we eat indirectly  
(unless Vegans, and Vega is a long way away(25 light years)), every bee  
eventually provides food for other living creatures.  I have seen lizards  and toads 
on alighting boards.  Insectivorous birds prey on them directly  as do rodents. 
 Those that die of old age and fall to the ground unnoticed  enter the food 
chain through the action of fungi etc, maybe contributing  marginally to the 
fertility of the soil that feeds us.
 
My answer to both your questions is 'Yes'.
 
Chris

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