Bees Drink Pigs Wee???

[UEAHoneyBeeMan]

Help!

I've just had a message from a friend who wants to start beekeeping and is a pig farmer.
They have been told at their first beekeeping lesson at their local association that they can't keep bees with pigs because the bees will drink the pigs wee!!!!

Someone help me out here, is that really true or a porky????

Stewart

 

[Hivemaker.]

Someone help me out here, is that really true or a porky????

True,and yours if given chance,they like sucking dungheaps as well.

 

[psafloyd]

Well, who wouldn't?

 

[UEAHoneyBeeMan]

So does that mean that they can't keep bees or need to make sure they have a supply of fresh water nearby for the bees to drink rather than the outside toilet!

 

[Nose Ma]

I have a supply of fresh water, the bees still prefer horse manure or the stagnant pond next door.

I don't see why you could not keep bees, unless there is an increased risk of pigs being stung. No human health risk, bees get water from all sorts of places already!

nm

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yes they can keep bee's,if the bees want pee they will find it,if not there, then somwhere else within their flying range. Near a stream or other fresh water supply is good,but the bees would more likely choose stagnant dirty water from tractor ruts.

 

[susbees]

Doesn't answer the question as to how they clean their feet before treading all over the hive...I mean it's not like it can be shoes off at the door girls...

 

[iand]

They don't, that is why you move capped comb honey up or if totally finished out of the hive asap. Just so they don't wipe their muddy boots all over your nice clean cappings.

 

[Hombre]

Your pig farmer friend needs to ask his association tutors what his keeping pigs on his farm has to do with his keeping bees at an out apiary 20 miles away? Just for the reaction of course. . .

I had a nice crop of dark honey from an apiary just across the road from a very horsey establishment. I did wonder if the colour might be because it was somehow enriched with salts from horse pee. I couldn't figure quite what it was that they were actually foraging on . . . LoL

Good luck with your General Husbandry assessment. It sounds interesting.

 

[AnotherNewBee]

I think I'd only worry about it if the customers report that the honey I sold them tastes of bacon.

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes they can keep bees.

As for the urine, well, possibly yes and possibly no.

PH

 

[drstitson]

as per the above - bees will seek out "mineral rich" sources of water anyway.

 

[jdee]

I kept a couple of pigs last year (now in the freezer) and will do so again this year. Bees are 150 yards away from the sty. Honey tasted wonderful and no complaints from anyone that had honey - in fact quite the opposite. I would be more worried about them drinking the stagnent water from the ditch at the back of the garden.

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

I think it's a bit of pay back for the pigs, suck on this you bee's.
After all some of the pigs will end up as Honey Roasted Ham!!!

 

[Dishmop]

Wonder thoughts.

If you had ever spent much time in association with the food processing industry you'd probably only eat flowers...

or perhaps not if the bees had been walking on them.........


if the public knew what gets spread onto some fields they wouldnt eat much at all.

 

[UEAHoneyBeeMan]

I think I'd only worry about it if the customers report that the honey I sold them tastes of bacon.

Maybe it could create a whole new market!!!

Thanks everyone for the comments, helpful and amusing as always.

Stewart

 

[Dishmop]

Me thinks that should this information get too widely spread, that half the worlds population might stop eating honey on religious grounds...

 

[tonybloke]

if the public knew what gets spread onto some fields they wouldnt eat much at all.

well, I'm part of the public, I know what gets spread on fields, and it doesn't stop me from eating local produce!

if you are on about BioSolids, they are mostly injected into the soil, much better than putting them in the rivers / sea.

try reading this book, (I Have as part of my Organic Horticulture and food Production course) it's very enlightening!

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Farmers-Forty-Centuries-Organic-Farming/dp/0486436098[/ame]

 

[tonybloke]

Me thinks that should this information get too widely spread, that half the worlds population might stop eating honey on religious grounds...

why?

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

To Islam and to Judaism, the pig is an unclean animal and anything that might be a product of anything porcine, would be unacceptable.

D