Manitoba has approximately 231 different species of native bees, including 24 different species of bumblebees.

More than just bumblebees

A new research project at AAFC is assessing habitat 
for the 231 different species of native bees in Manitoba

How pollinator friendly is your farm? A new study being conducted at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Brandon Research and Development Centre is looking to gather data on the province’s native bees and create an on-farm habitat-assessment tool. “We don’t have a lot of information on native bees in Manitoba but we are starting to get

Close up view of the working bees on honeycells.

Bee die-offs from multiple causes

Experts and bee industry representatives say 
the story’s been presented one dimensionally 
by many in the media

Habitat loss, poor beekeeping practices and pesticides are among the biggest challenges facing bee populations, experts have told the Commons agriculture committee. Chris Cutler, an associate professor in the department of environmental sciences at Dalhousie University and also a beekeeper, said another challenge is a lack of information on wild bees, which are vital to


chicks

Postal workers pledge to move bees, chicks if striking

Postal workers are taking strike votes this month across the country

Canada Post and its unionized staff have agreed to set up a system in which workers would volunteer to move live animals, such as day-old chicks or bees, during a strike or lockout. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) announced June 14 it has a new agreement with the Crown corporation to move and

Entomologist Christian Krupke at the Purdue Bee Laboratory with pollen collected by Indiana honeybees.

Non-crop plants source of most pesticide contamination of bees

One of the most common sources of pollen contamination is home pest control products

Urban landscapes may bear more responsibility for exposing bees to pesticides than previously thought. A recent study from Purdue University, published in the academic journal Nature Communications, found honeybees gathered the vast majority of pollen from non-agriculture crops and were being exposed to both agricultural and domestic pesticides. Entomologist Christian Krupke found pollen samples contained


Two drone pupae of the Western honey bee with varroa mites.

Mites could play role in variable bee losses

Honeybee losses are all over the map in Manitoba this year, as experts eye the impact of the varroa mite

While the numbers are still preliminary it appears one word will likely characterize winter loss for Manitoba beekeepers this spring — variability. “The one thing I can probably say without having any hard numbers, just from preliminary reporting, is that we’re going to have a lot of variability in winter loss this year,” said Rheal

bees

Beehives to go high tech

A so-called smart beehive could change how apiarists manage their colonies and treat mites

We have smart phones, smart cars and even smart fridges. Now, Allan Campbell is preparing to launch the smart beehive. “We are still in the prototype phase, but we hope to have the first ones out this summer. So far it hasn’t left the lab yet,” said the co-owner of Durston Honey Farms and president


dead bees

App promises better communication between farmers and beekeepers

Developed in Australia, BeeConnected will aid co-ordination between farmers and beekeepers and keep bees healthy

CropLife Canada and the Canadian Honey Council are teaming up to bring an app to Canada that promises to help bees and crop agriculture coexist. BeeConnected was developed by CropLife Australia and the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, to allow farmers, beekeepers, and pesticide applicators to collaborate, anonymously, to facilitate best practices to protect pollinators.

Solitary nesting bees, like this native leafcutter bee, will get better houses that will augment their numbers through a University of Manitoba open competition.

Building a better beehive

The University of Manitoba has opened an international competition aimed at giving bees better housing

Wild bees need homes too. That’s the simple idea behind an international design competition opened by the University of Manitoba on Mar. 1. The competition hopes better housing for the beleaguered insects will help address a pressing biological issue — their declining numbers. Bee houses were chosen as the focus of the competition because they


An apiarist covers beehives on a truck after his bees completed pollinating a blueberry field near Columbia Falls, Maine in June 2014. Honeybees are estimated to pollinate plants that produce about a quarter of the food consumed by Americans, including apples, watermelons and beans.

Vital to food output, pollinators face rising risk

A new global study explores the concerns over pesticides and loss of habitat

Bees and other pollinators face increasing risks to their survival, threatening foods such as apples, blueberries and coffee worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, the first global assessment of pollinators showed on Feb. 26. Pesticides, loss of habitats to farms and cities, disease and climate change were among threats to about 20,000 species

Waldemar Damert stands next to honeybees during the Honey Show, held each year at The Forks Market in Winnipeg.

Bee swarms cut into honey production

Fear not the swarm! Honeybee swarms don’t pose a risk to humans, but can hamper honey production

Some Manitoba beekeepers have seen honey production drop this summer as hot, humid weather increased the number of hives that split due to swarms. “It’s usually the humidity and the higher temperatures that make the bees and the hives feel hot, the same way that we do,” said Waldemar Damert, president of the Red River