Macewan University’s urban bees bouncing back

Macewan University’s rooftop beehives are doing well despite suffering losses over the winter.

Urban beekeeper Troy Donovan said the beehives saw a decline of about 40 per cent but have since bounced back and are now doing really well.

“We’re just splitting (the hives) because they’re just growing and growing and growing. That’s our current project is splitting them, getting them ready for the honey flow in a few weeks.”

For Donovan, working as a beekeeper during the COVID -19 pandemic has had to be modified in some ways in order to stay compliant with public-health guidelines.

That includes wearing a mask underneath his beekeeping suit when other beekeepers are with him.

“We try to limit it to a couple of beekeepers at a time and we have enough room, it’s outdoors so we have space to keep distanced and we follow rules around hand sanitizing but for the most part we’re wearing gloves anyway,” Donovan said.

One unexpected development of the pandemic, however, is longer grass and more flowers as the city has cut back on lawn care to save money.

“The local pollinators, I think, are going to benefit the most,” Donovan said. “The honey bees, I think they got a lot more dandelions to work with this spring, so they’ve been growing quite strongly.”

Although the city announced last week it plans to ramp up lawn care again after complaints from residents, most green spaces will only be tended to biweekly instead of weekly as in past years.

HONEY FOR SALE

In the fall, there are plans to have a honey sale, Donovan said.

Macewan’s bees typically create a honey that has a lighter, floral taste compared to store-bought honey. However, the taste depends on what flowers the bees collect from. Due to restrictions from COVID -19, he says they will likely sell the honey online through the university’s bookstore website.

“They have online orders, delivery as well as I believe some curbside pick up,” Donovan said.