Richard and Norma Duplain took these photographs of their honey bees in July, as the bees were busy foraging in the vegetable and flower gardens at their home in New Brunswick. Richard was kind enough to share pictures of his honeybees in lupines earlier in the season. Now, enjoy More Honey Bee Photographs in this slideshow:

This note came in today from a New Brunswick beekeeper in the Fredericton area — and we’re saddened to hear of yet another beekeeper who is getting out of the business. If you are interested in purchasing his hives and equipment, please contact Dan directly:

Reluctantly, I have to sell my apiary. I’ve got 39 single broodchamber hives, 2 doubles and a variety of boxes, Quebec style bee escapes, queen excluders and trayfeeders. 6500.00 FIRM.

I would also like to thank you all for the kindness and support that you’ve shown me these past few years. I’m honoured to have been a part of such an outstanding group of people. It’s hard going back to hamburger when you’ve had steak for so long. God bless you all.

Dan Cornford
beeworks@rogers.com

New Brunswick beekeepers got a bit of attention in the NB Business Journal this Saturday morning, with the publication of a short piece on the business side of beekeeping, written by Doug Watling.

Don and Marlene Price (Gagetown, NB) and Claude Hachey (Nectar Valley Apiary, Bathurst, NB) were interviewed for the article.

The Prices are both active members of the Central Beekeepers Alliance — in fact, Marlene has served for some time as the CBA’s very capable Secretary.

Read the article online at http://nbbusinessjournal.canadaeast.com/gleaner/article/386546.

A growing consumer demand for organic products — and the increased resistance of pests and diseases to the chemical remedies that apiculture has relied on for the past decade or so — are spurring many beekeepers to think about a move to organic methods of honey production and hive management.

It’s not a simple matter of just giving up the use of synthetic chemicals and medications, of course — to begin with, going “cold turkey” on miticides and antibiotics is one fast way for a beekeeper to lose his/her livestock to pests and disease.

The Canadian standards for organic beekeeping require a number of stringent conditions to be met, before the hive products (e.g. honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax and bee venom) from a beekeeping operation can be “sold, labelled or represented as organic.” Did you know, for example, that organic standards for apiculture say that “destroying the male [drone] brood is permitted only to contain infestation with varroa mites”? Or that honey is not to be extracted from a comb with live brood in it? Or that queen bees may not have their wings clipped?

There’s a lot to learn — Organic standards address all aspects of the beekeeping operation: from making the transition to organic beekeeping, to Origin of bees, Location of hives, Forage and Feeding, Colony Management, Hive Construction, Health Care, Disease and Pest Management, right down to Extraction, Processing and Storage.

In general terms,

• The treatment and management of colonies shall respect the principles of organic production.
• The sources of nectar, honeydew and pollen shall consist mainly of organically produced plants and spontaneous (wild) vegetation.
• The management of bee health shall be based on appropriate measures such as selection of stock with diseaseresistant traits, availability of suitable forage, and good apiary management practices.
• When bees are placed in wild areas, consideration shall be given to the indigenous insect population.
• An operator of an organic apicultural enterprise shall prepare an organic plan providing a detailed description of the sources of bees and production methods. The plan shall include a description of colony management for diet, disease, pests, breeding and related problems with production, in accordance with this standard. The operator shall also outline the details of crop management practices, where applicable.

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Changes in weather can interfere with our bees’ ability to forage for nectar, as well as the amount of nectar-producing flowers that are available to the honey bees. It is not uncommon for the nectar flow to “dry up” in August, in New Brunswick. Bees don’t usually produce much extra honey in this part of the season — but this year, the food supply situation for bees is getting critical.

Fletcher Colpitts, Chief Apiary Inspector, and Michel Melanson, P. Ag., Crop Development Specialist - Blueberry/Apiculture, for New Brunswick, have just sent out this advisory to beekeepers:

At this time of the year, bees usually do not produce much surplus honey. This year however, the nectar flow is not even adequate to supply the daily requirement of the adult bees in the colony in some regions.

A few beekeepers have observed that the older bees may be eating the eggs, young larvae, and in severe cases, chewing the wax capping to eat the older larvae.

Beekeepers that have removed the honey super, supplementary feeding is definitely required, especially in the Southern region. If you haven’t removed your honey super, make sure that honey supers have adequate amount of honey stored. There are confirmed cases where bees have starved and may continue to do so unless supplement feeding is done immediately.

If the case where supplementary feeding is required, you should mix sugar:water at a ratio of 2:1 or 1:1. Continue to do this until possible return of nectar flow. Normal winter feeding may have to be started early if fall nectar flow does not come.

This is also a good time to verify your mite population. The opportunity may be taken now to apply Formic Acid for varroa control because there is a break in the nectar flow.