Health Canada Advertisement Called Anti-Honey

A Health Canada advertisement telling parents not to feed honey to infants has produced a swarm of protest from the nation’s beekeepers. The controversial ad features a bottle of honey with a happy bear face. On the bottle is a red circle with a diagonal line through it. A caption reads: “Do you know that

Short Winter Eases Manitoba Bee Losses

“Weather is a big part of the losses in Canada.” – RHEAL LAFRENIERE, MAFRI Ashort winter may have moderated the loss of Mani toba honeybee colonies this year, following three years of abnormally high losses. Winter colony losses appear closer to traditional levels of 20 to 25 per cent, compared to annual losses of around


Wake Up The Family With Sweetheart Toast

How about this toast for breakfast to greet each family member on Valentine’s Day? Materials: – 2/3 c. milk – Yellow food colour – Red food colour – White bread – Honey – 2 thin paintbrushes – Wide brush for honey – 2 glasses – A toaster oven works best Directions: Pour 1/3 cup of

Mandatory Membership Requires Significant Common Benefit

Groucho Marx once joked that he would never “join any club that would accept him as a member.” I think a better principle would be to never join any organization that is forcing you to be a member. The Manitoba Beekeepers Associat ion is at tempt ing to force me to join and pay membership


Former Honey Leader In Sticky Mess Over Membership Fees

“If they want to send the sheriff to collect, then at that point there’s a legal dispute.” – PHIL VELDHUIS Af o r m e r Ma n i t o b a Beekeepers Association president has set the stage for a potential showdown with his organization by refusing to pay a compulsory membership fee.

Honey Crop Beats Expectations

“Until I crunched the numbers, I never thought we had that much.” – RHEAL LAFRENIERE, MAFRI Manitoba beekeepers had a surprisingly good honey crop this summer, despite unfavourable weather conditions. A preliminary Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives survey shows producers averaged 177 pounds of honey per colony, above the long-term provincial average of 165


Cool Summer Dampens Honey Outlook

The cool weather so far this summer could deliver a double hit to Manitoba‘s honey producers. Besides depressing honey yields, it could also weaken bee populations going into the winter. That would be the last thing Manitoba beekeepers need after experiencing record honeybee losses in 2008-09. “There is a lot of concern unless we get

One Sweet Home-Based Business

HONEYBEE FACTS Honey is the only food that includes all the substance necessary to sustain life including water. A hive of bees must fly 5,000 miles to produce one pound of honey. To make honey, bees drop the collected nectar into the honeycomb and then evaporate it by fanning their wings. Honeybees collect nectar from


No Smoking Gun For CCD

For the past three years, a mysterious die-off of honeybees in the U. S. has gripped public attention and led to fascinating theories about its origin. Suggested causes of colony collapse disorder (CCD) included pesticides, diseases, changing weather patterns, inadequate nutrition, environmental stress and plain overwork. Some blamed radio waves from cellphones for causing bees

Canada avoids funny honey from China

“We don’t want the honey name to be tarnished.” – GUY CHARTIER, BEE MAID HONEY An international wave of fraudulently disguising, repackaging and reselling honey imported from China appears to be bypassing Canada. Canada’s federal honey regulations and monitoring programs are keeping illegal, adulterated and contaminated honey out of the country, according to the Canadian