Responsible beekeeping

Responsible beekeeping and education is the only thing that can raise enough awareness and help the bees survive.




Why Simply Bee doesn’t harvest any royal jelly, bee venom and pollen.
The use of bee venom is taking a spotlight in the beauty industry again at the moment. We love bee based skincare ingredients, and there is no doubt that bee venom, royal jelly and pollen can deliver skincare benefits but there is also no doubt that it is vital for the future of our honeybees that we only harness and utilise bee based ingredients that do not harm these precious insects.
At Simply Bee our ecological reliance on our buzzy friends is far more critical than the anti-ageing benefits they are being harmed for and the results of which can equally be achieved with other carefully selected ingredients. We absolutely believe in responsible beekeeping.
Responsible beekeeping
How good it sounds but how bad it really is.
There is a lot of hype about products containing bee venom, royal jelly and pollen, as studies showed these ingredients help to address issues of ageing skin…sadly they are not so good for our precious honeybees and therefore the future of our ecosystem.
As demand increases for bee venom, royal jelly and pollen so too does the potential threat to our honeybees since the extraction process is invariably intrusive.
By not touching this we also protect our bees and their future.
Why pollen is so important to the bees.
Collecting to much bee pollen can cause harm to your bee colonies.
You would be removing a very important source of protein for the bees that is only available at specific times of the year.
Bees need the pollen as a primary food source to feed and raise their young
Why is it cruel to harvest bee venom.
To harvest bee venom a frame containing an electrified grid is placed at the entrance to the hive. As the bees land on the grid an electric current passes through them, in effect giving them an electric shock – they react to this by stinging through the grid and their venom drips onto a plate below where it is allowed to dry and be collected later.
Whilst the electric shock itself doesn’t kill the bees, the release of venom puts the entire hive on alert and more and more workers exit the hive to try to deal with the perceived threat. It is important to remember that bees have a barbered stinger, therefore when they sting a mammal the stinger stays in the flesh of the mammal – causing the bee’s death.
However when they sting the glass plate the stinger does not penetrate. Collecting venom in this way puts the colony under stress, it can take several days for the bees to replenish their stocks of venom making the colony vulnerable to attack. Whilst it is not proven that bees physically suffer from the electric current they are subjected to, we don’t believe that treating our bees in this way is “cruelty free” and therefore we actively choose not to use bee venom in any of our products.
Royal Jelly – killing bees for beauty is just not allowed.
Whilst collecting bee venom doesn’t usually result in the death of many bees, collecting royal jelly certainly does. Royal jelly is normally produced by special glands within the worker bees heads and fed to all baby bees soon after an egg is laid in the cell. Unfortunately thousands of baby bee larvae destined to become Queen bees are killed in order to collect this ‘precious’ royal jelly.
The eggs that are selected by the colony for greatness as a future Queen are fed on royal jelly exclusively. In order to harvest in commercial volumes, frames of newly created Queen cells are placed inside an otherwise Queen less hive so that the workers deposit large amounts of royal jelly into each cell. After about 48 hours, the frames containing the Queen cells full of royal jelly are taken from the hives and the maturing baby bee larvae removed from the cells and simply discarded before the remaining royal jelly is vacuumed out of the cells and collected.
This process leads to the death of thousands of baby bee larvae and is something we at Simply Bee simply can’t contemplate as being either ethical or cruelty free.
Why is it so important.
Why is it important to protect or honeybees and educate consumers in regards to royal jelly, bee venom and pollen. Because bees are critical to our ecosystem. The numbers of bumblebees and solitary bees has declined rapidly since the 1940’s and several species are now extinct. Without the tireless work of our bees and other pollinating insects, over one third of everything we eat would disappear from our tables.
In South Africa alone bees face many other challenges. There’s the loss of natural habitat, a lack of forage from declining wildflower meadows, and a toxic cocktail of pesticides. So harvesting bee venom, royal jelly, and pollen exacerbates what is already a serious problem.
Our responsible bee-keeping practices at Simply Bee.
We are very fortunate to have our beehives in Fynbos rich areas around Hopefield where there is no commercial farming within the immediate vicinity.
Therefore, our honey, beeswax and propolis are all 100% organic. Our bees are not used for commercial pollination either, eliminating the negative effects of exposure to chemicals.
Our hives are all placed on stands, which also makes them badger-friendly.
At Simply Bee practice responsible beekeeping by only harvesting honey, propolis and beeswax at the appropriate times.
We will never harvest in the brood box, as our bees need everything they collect in the brood box for the future of our colonies.
31A Church Street, Hopefield, 7355
TEL: 022-723-0569
www.simplybee.co.za