I ask this in good faith, and I do not mean to bring about struggle sessions with this question (keep it civil, please :). I'm writing a sort of mini-essay on a certain topic (Edit: not anymore, I lost my writing appetite), and veganism fits into that topic (I'm keeping it vague because I'll probably post it here and I don't want to spoil the whole thing). If people are on the fence and others want to know more about what Veganism is and why they should consume in that way, I would be grateful if others more experienced and well-read on the subject could provide resources or counter-reasons. I feel like a lot of the things I believed before going vegan turned out to be misconceptions, and it doesn't hurt to be more educated on a subject, right?
Edit: I need to take a break from the internet again, if my brain wasn't fried already it is now (not anything any of you started, I brought this upon myself)
I've worked as a beekeeper so I feel like I can answer this. The bees are literally free to leave at any time, there's no way to stop them from packing up and finding a better place to live and they will do so if they feel the need to. If a hive is particularly successful and grows large enough they'll split and half the bees will leave to find a new place, and if you provide them with a hive most of the time they'll just stick around. They're perfectly able to survive and thrive outside of the bee-beekeeper relationship so the only thing keeping them there is their own preference
How does that translate into them consenting to sharing their food? Honest question.
Oh, they also over produce the amount of honey they need, and beekeepers supplement their food during spring/fall when flowers aren't in bloom. If they were going hungry or felt food insecure they would leave and search for greener pastures.
I will say there is a spectrum of beekeepers with some being more ethical than others, I've heard stories of beekeepers a few decades ago that wouldn't bother wintering their bees and just started fresh with new bees each spring. So if you're after ethically sourced honey and beeswax I'd deal with a local beekeeper, someone you can get to know and ask about their beekeeping practices.
So just to sum it up I'd say it's possible for beekeeping to be done ethically but I'd asses it on a case-by-case basis as some beekeepers are better than others
Edit: just a disclaimer, I worked for a small to medium sized beekeeper that had stationary yards spread over a large chunk of country, not one of these large corporate setups with the mobile hive trucks. Also I haven't touched on the whole issue of them competing with native pollinators but that's because I don't really know about that side of things