The argument should really be "fix regulations governing the honey industry", because nothing about honey farming has to be cruel or harmful to bees, but the law literally requires it to be in the case of Langstroth hives and many mite-mitigation things that end up stressing bees out for the sake of bureaucracy.

1/3 of colonies dying in winter sounds bad, and is certainly inefficient from an agricultural perspective, but wild hives don't have better survival rates. Parasites are an issue mostly due to beekeepers historically favoring breeds which were fine before mites were a big problem but don't have good grooming behaviors to deal with the modern situation. Due to higher productivity and "that's how we've always done it", they still use those slovenly breeds.

i do not quite understand this point of view. even if bees suffer tremendously in the industrial complex, then the logical solution would not be to stop eating honey but to source honey from an ethical producer. there are lots of small beekeepers everywhere who treat their bees well and produce high quality honey. they get their hive in a often quiet area near a field or forest and live there mostly untouched until some of the honey is harvested. they also make sure to leave enough for the hive to survive, otherwise you would need to buy again.

i feel like this is the same for other animal products. for a lot of them there is an ethical way of sourcing them, which costs more and you would need to reduce your consumption of it. but this extreme view on veganism and animal products confuses me.