Beekeepers regroup after difficult winter

The current warm weather is proving to be a definite boon for beekeepers working to rebuild hives that suffered losses due to the long, cold winter that just passed.

Mike Long, president of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission, said he lost a little over 30 per cent of his bees and estimated a 30to 40-per-cent loss province-wide.

“It was such a long cold winter and we had such long stretches of cold in our area. We had 50-60 days straight of below -20 temperatures. Then, we had a cold snap at Easter with windchills of -30C,” said Long. “It did kill off some bees, higher than average and with high losses.

“I figure the losses are in the 30-40 per cent range. It’s not a crisis. It’s farming. You have a setback and you put in more work to get through it,” he said. In a report prepared for Alberta Agriculture and Food in 2007, following the harsh winter of 2006-07 when 30 per cent of Alberta bees were lost to winterkill, the Alberta bee industry faced economic losses of between $16.7 million and $24.7 million.

In 2007, 240,000 beehives were registered in the province, 72,000 of which were impacted by winterkill, twice the average amount.

A survey of the current Alberta bee population is wrapping up and the report is expected to be made public in July.

Long noted that if there are other underlying concerns when the cold snap hits, such as disease and pests which will weaken the bee, the losses could be more substantial.

He said it is vital for beekeepers to have good management practices in place to ensure healthy bees.

“Bees were running out of food, so there was a higher rate of starvation. When it is so cold, the bees will cluster together into a ball and if they aren’t close to that honey, they will starve.

“The more inputs the better. In midOctober, we are preparing them for winter,” he said.

“The Alberta Beekeepers Commission has concerns about Varroa mites. It’s always playing a hand. The mite feeds on the bee larvae which makes them weaker and coupled with a hard winter, eventually they can’t take it and it kills them,” said Long.

There is also a fungus, Nosema, that attacks the bee’s digestion system.