Every time I've gone on the porch to have a mug of tea today, a #honeybee has arrived shortly after I finish to lick the inside of my mug clean. Is it the same bee every time?
I put lots of #honey in my tea, and I understand that you're not supposed to give honey to bees, because it can transmit disease. The tea is boiling hot when I stir the honey in, which I would think would destroy some disease vectors, but I don't really know.
How bad is this? Do I need to flee inside when I see the bee?
@skyfaller the disease in question is foulbrood, affected beehives are commonly disinfected using sodium hydroxid or burning. I doubt that just boiling water destroys the spores - this random post from 2006 claims 120°C: https://www.beesource.com/threads/foulbrood-spores.200927/post-146000
However the concern is usually from actively feeding hives with contaminated honey, the risk from a single bee eating diluted honey should be very low.
@linusgroh Thank you for identifying the disease vector! You're right, the risk seems very low, but I would feel terrible if I hurt the bees, so I think I'll try to stop the bee from licking my mug in the future. I just feel bad denying it a treat, especially as the weather gets colder and it probably needs a pick-me-up.
I'll just need to come up with a safer treat for the bees when they visit me.
@skyfaller They're usually fed sugar water or fondant during the winter, if you want to safely feed them mixing regular processed white sugar and water 1:1 is a good option :)
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