New Video: Breeding Survivor Queenbees in New Mexico

During our tour of the Southwest, we had the pleasure of visiting Melanie Kirby, co-owner of Zia Queenbee Company, at her home in the mountains of Truchas, New Mexico. We're excited to release this long-awaited video about her wonderful work.

Melanie breeds Survivor Queenbees that are sold to beekeepers around the country so they can build healthy hives. Her approach ensures that the bees are genetically diverse and by giving their queen bees extra time to mature, they prove themselves to be naturally resilient against disease, pests and weather fluctuations.

Check out the blog post where we shared fascinating facts about bees that we learned during our visit, as well as some behind-the-scenes footage of Dorothée in a bee hat!

Comments

[D.R.S.]

Hi Dorothée. What's your view on the permissibility of eating honey for vegans? Do you get the sense that organic honey is significantly better (environmentally and "ethically," in terms of the bees' treatment) than non-organic honey?

[OrganicNation.tv]

Hi Daniel, thanks for your question. Organic honey has always been a tricky subject because bees are able to fly up to 3 miles in circumference from their hive. That means they can gather pollen from all sorts of different crops, flowers, shrubs and trees. Typically, an organic honey producer will make sure the surrounding farms within that 3-mile radius are certified organic.

Though I haven't heard of definitive scientific studies proving that organic honey is healthier than non-organic, people should consider the following: Honey bees are most likely effected by extensive pesticide use on farms and many people are concerned that pesticide exposure may be one cause of Colony Collapse Disorder. Moreover, non-organic honey production involves extensive use of antibiotics for disease control and leads to possible contamination of the honey. The antibiotics given to the honey bees are veterinary antibiotics that may cause cancer and aplastic anaemia in adult humans.

Check out this article about the stringent organic standards for honey: http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/organic-honey.html

On a personal note, I think organic or small-batch honey like Melanie's just simply tastes better!

[Chad]

Dorothée et al,
Fun video. You've traveled long, exciting path, and I look forward to seeing where you end up next.

@chadreese

[OrganicNation.tv]

Thanks Chad!