ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a history of commercial, migratory beekeeping, with an examination of how this form of beekeeping is used within capitalist agriculture as an override to the harm caused by wild bees. This type of beekeeping forces honey bees onto the treadmill of capitalist agriculture, adopting many of the practices associated with industrial livestock agriculture including the simplification of diets, the use of prophylactic antibiotics, the rapid spread of pests and pathogens, and the heavy use of miticides. These practices result in sickly yet numerous animals, who are highly susceptible to stressors and whose presence may threaten other species of bees.
