Canadian beekeepers have posted poor winter survival in several recent years.

B.C. company pitches bee health tool

ApiSave says product will boost bee immunity to overcome health challenges

Honeybee hive loss has been a problem for Canadian beekeepers. B.C. company ApiSave thinks their bee health product could help make more robust, resilient bees.



Julia Leeson (standing) and a student record vegetation cover data at a field boundary.

Research weighs value to farm from field edges

Researchers hope to weigh whether the value of a ditch or shelterbelt, which is prime pollinator habitat, outweighs the weed or disease risk

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers in Saskatchewan hope to weigh whether the value of a ditch or shelterbelt, which is prime pollinator habitat, outweighs the weed or disease risk.

Creating a pro-pollinator farm

Creating a pro-pollinator farm

Limiting tillage and creating habitat for beneficial insects can pad the producer’s bottom line

Limiting tillage and creating habitat for beneficial insects like pollinators can pad the producer’s bottom line


A tiny sweat bee feeds off a milkweed blossom.

The wild side of pollination 

More is better when it comes to bee diversity: researcher 

Flowering plants have developed a few ways to move their pollen around, and thus protect their genetic diversity. Many grasses are wind-pollinated and, as a backup for their long-shot pollination method, can self-pollinate to bring about the next generation.  If you’re a broadleaf plant, you’re likely putting animals to work, whether that’s birds, insects or

'Think of a down jacket: it’s the air between the feathers that helps keep the wearer warm. Honeybee clusters are similar to the action of compressing a down jacket, whereby the thermal conductivity eventually increases to that of a dense solid of feathers...'

Comment: Bee clustering knowledge based on faulty guidance

Honeybees cluster together when it’s cold but we’ve been completely wrong about why

Honeybees in human-made hives may have suffered the cold unnecessarily for over a century because commercial hive designs are based on erroneous science. For 119 years, a belief that the way honeybees cluster together provides a kind of evolutionary insulation has been fundamental for beekeeping practice, hive design and honeybee study. In the modern day,


Since 1969, honeybee lifespan in the U.S. has dropped from a median of 34 days to just 18 days.

Comment: Honeybee lifespan could be half what it was 50 years ago: study

A number of factors are likely contributing to this perceived decline

A new paper shows how the lifespan of the adult honeybee appears to have shrunk by nearly 50 per cent in the past 50 years.  The European Red List of Bees suggests nearly one in 10 species of wild bees are facing extinction. Imagine how we would react if human lifespans halved. The equivalent would

Rusty patch bumblebees are native bees that are now listed as an endangered species.  
photo: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab/Creative Commons

Another bad season for bees

Experts explore the reasons for bee population declines -- and ways to mitigate the problem

Beekeepers reported high losses over the winter and experts are exploring the reasons and seeking ways to mitigate future colony declines. Ian Steppler, president of the Manitoba Beekeepers Association, said Manitoba’s losses this year are extremely high. “We’re nearly at a 60 per cent loss right across Manitoba right now, the highest loss in Canada


Pollinators key to canola crops’ success

Pollinators key to canola crops’ success

Your busy little unpaid employees make it all possible

Canola producers often partner with beekeepers because the bees are an effective way to pollinate canola blossoms and increase the seed production. The bees collect the pollen as a protein-rich food and sip nectar to make honey, a handy way to store energy. Making pollen and nectar is a lot of work for the plant

beehive frame without honey

U.S. honey crop stung by climate change

Drought-weakened bee colonies shrink North American honey crop, threaten almonds and fruit Gackle, N.D. | Reuters — There was barely a buzz in the air as John Miller pried the lid off of a crate, one of several “bee boxes” stacked in eight neat piles beside a cattle-grazing pasture outside Gackle, North Dakota, about 150