Bees are attuned to weather conditions, and having smoke in the ambient air around the hive can make the bees go into emergency mode.
Tag Archives Bees
Wildfire smoke threatens to turn down honey tap for beekeepers
Honeybees hunker down when there’s too much smoke in the air, slicing at a beekeeper’s honey flow
Mapping tool to stop accidental spraying now available across Prairies
Organic farmers and beekeepers hope FieldWatch can prevent costly accidents
The U.S.-developed mapping platform has been available to Saskatchewan farmers and aerial applicators since 2012, and is now available in Manitoba and Alberta.
Prairie beekeepers’ honey flow slowed last year
Weather and production challenges reduced how much product was produced; beekeepers wary about coming winter
Glacier FarmMedia – Weather woes and disease caused honey production on the Prairies to drop significantly in 2024, especially in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Statistics Canada recently reported that Canadian honey production dropped by more than 18 per cent nationwide compared to 2023, though the number of beekeepers and colonies increased. Beekeepers across the nation drew […] Read more
Varroa mite control called ‘double-edged sword’
The toolbox that producers have at their disposal to manage the pests threatening their bees is getting more complicated
Glacier FarmMedia – For Ian Steppler, a commercial beekeeper near Deerwood, Man., managing varroa mites is a persistent battle. The invasive parasite, which has plagued North American beekeepers since the late 1980s, continues to escalate its toll on honeybee colonies across the globe. They’ve become a consistent contender among the top four causes of winter […] Read more
Skies both gloomy and sunny for honey prices
Beekeepers face challenges in important markets, but demand for true honey amidst rampant fraud could boost prices
WINNIPEG — The level of fake honey on store shelves has reached a boiling point. It’s so bad that the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations will not hand out awards for the best honey at its 2025 meeting in Denmark. The associations cannot ensure that all honey in the competition is genuine, so judging and […] Read more
Researchers study how to breed queen bees in Canada
A $4.5 million project will explore how queens and nucleus colonies can be over-wintered to avoid importing them
WINNIPEG — Every spring, Canadian beekeepers deal with the same unpleasant problem. A percentage of their hives fail to survive the winter — possibly 20 to 40 per cent — so they import queen bees and small nucleus colonies from New Zealand, Australia or Hawaii to replace them. Bee experts from British Columbia, Alberta and […] Read more
Canadians miss out on higher U.S. honey prices
U.S. fought honey fraud by imposing tariffs, which raised prices, while the Canadian sector pushes for increased testing
American and Canadian honey prices typically follow each other quite closely but now U.S. beekeepers are getting more. As of Sept. 25, there was a 75 cents per pound gap between American and Canadian white canola honey prices as reported in the U.S. Department of Agriculture national honey report. It’s one of the largest price […] Read more
N.S. farmers face similar challenges to Prairies
Farms may be smaller than those in the West, but they also deal with succession planning, economics and sustainability
HALIFAX — Nova Scotia farms may be small compared to most Prairie operations, but they face similar issues. Farmers on a panel at the Canadian Farm Writers Federation annual conference in early October said succession planning, economics and sustainability are among them. Amber Creamer, policy manager with the provincial agriculture department, said there are 2,050 […] Read more
When Mother Nature stops in her tracks
A bee died in front of my very eyes this summer — or at least I think it did. I was sitting on our deck one evening and noticed a fat bumblebee flitting from flower to flower. It would stick what I’ll call its nose in one flower, dig around in there for a couple […] Read more
Bee colony losses high in Ontario, low in Saskatchewan
WINNIPEG — Honeybee colony losses in Canada are estimated at 36 per cent in 2024.That’s marginally worse than 2023, when beekeepers lost 32 per cent of their colonies through the winter, says the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA).Every July, CAPA publishes data on the number of hives that fail to survive the winter. The […] Read more
