Grace,
It's wonderful that you are going vegan. Congratulations. If you choose to give up honey I'd say that's your affair.
I've talked to a bee keeper at a small farmers market, and he says that the hives get so sealed up with wax (the bees like to seal them to keep warm) that when the hives are opened (he has to use a crowbar!) some bees inevitably get crushed.
However, since farmers also use bees to polinate the crops that produce our otherwise 'vegan' food, this is certainly a grey area. Some vegans are going to law the law down on you and say that honey isn't vegan, and I guess they are right, but because of the bee usage in polination, some of our vegetables aren't vegan either.
I'd say it's up to you. If your friend has bees that are looked after, then I wouldn't get too troubled about it. Personally I gave it up, but that's somewhat because I found I was eating far too much of it for my waistline to justify!
I made a switch to putting molasses on my muesli (high in iron), but then I realised that wasn't helping me lose weight either.
