Winterkill rates reported at 24 percent | Long winter, late spring and a bee fungus contributed to the problem
EDMONTON — A long winter, late spring and a persistent honeybee disease combined to increase bee deaths last winter, says Alberta’s provincial apiculturist.
About 24 percent of Alberta’s honey bee population died during winter last year, compared to 15 percent the previous year, said Medhat Nasr, which he attributed to four factors.
“A long winter, a long winter, a cold spring and nosema,” he said.
Most bees went into the winter in good shape, but few could survive the long winter, Nasr told the Alberta Beekeepers Commission’s recent convention. Bee losses also started to mount when spring was late.
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He said the fungus nosema also took its toll on the weakened bees as the winter dragged on.
“This was most likely associated with the late spring and the confinement of bees for a long time.”
Bees don’t defecate in their hives during the winter and can start to die if they fill up with feces after being confined to a hive for four to six months.
“Even if you have chinooks for one or two days, that is good for the bees to go fly outside, defecate and come back. Even if it gets colder, they get relieved,” he said.
“Weather plays a factor in our business. There is no research that can change the weather. Just keep healthy bees and cross your fingers and hope things will work out.”
It was a beekeeping season that commission president Grant Hicks would like to forget.
“Conditions were not atrocious for honey production, but we were so far behind by the number of hives that were lost,” said Hicks, who farms near McLennan.
“It was a year to develop mental toughness.”
Hicks also points to a lack of access to good quality U.S. queens as another reason winterkill losses have started to mount.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency won’t allow imported bees from the United States because they believe the risk of introducing disease and pests is too high.
Hicks said instead of importing high quality bees from California, Canadian beekeepers are forced to import poor quality stock not suited for Canadian winters.
“The genetics are not relevant to North American and they’re old bees,” he said.
“The American stock is selected from within North America and taken from top producing hives in Canada. The bees in California have been selected for Canadian climate for 50 years and we’re using something from the other side of the world. It’s frustrating.”
He said the border will likely remain closed until Canadian beekeepers can unite on the issue.
“When industry goes to the federal government, half say one thing and half say another and it makes it easy for the government to make no decision.”
