Central Beekeepers Alliance » Resources

NB Agriculture Website is Updated, Better for Beekeepers

workerbeej — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:10:07 +0000

The New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries has launched a major update to its website. Beyond a clean new look, the revised website makes it easier to find information published by the department, including forms and regulations. For beekeepers, there is a separate page all about bees, which serves as a “one-stop shop” for beekeeping information.

So far, in addition to information about alfalfa leafcutter bees and the native bumblebees that pollinate blueberries, and sidebar links to NBDAAF programs, agricultural research, events and maps, the Bees page on the government website contains:

a link to the beekeeper registration form that all New Brunswick beekeepers are required by law to complete each year;
information on evaluating, managing and protecting honeybee hives; and
under the Integrated Pest Management heading , information on the control of varroa mites.

Visitors can enter the main NBDAAF website at http://www.gnb.ca/0027/index-e.asp, the Agriculture division at http://www.gnb.ca/0027/Agr/index-e.asp, or the dedicated section on bees at http://www.gnb.ca/0027/Agr/0013/index-e.asp.

Free Honey and Pollen Analysis Offered to Canadian Beekeepers

workerbeej — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 12:57:06 +0000

A two-year research project entitled Floral identification of Canadian honey and pollen and development of a palynological reference booklet aims to develop a Canadian expertise in honey and pollen identification.

Unlike European honeys, Canadian honeys are not differentiated by their specific floral sources. The term "mixed flowers" categorizes the majority of honey sold in the country. Therefore, consumers cannot buy honeys from particular floral origins. In addition, the Canadian market is flooded with imported honeys of lower quality. The price of these "mixed flowers" honeys imported is much lower than Canadian honey, causing significant competition to local products. Finally, because pollen can be used to feed bees or sold as dietary supplement for human consumption, the labelling of plant composition would add market-value.

The purpose of this two-year project is to develop a Canadian expertise in honey and pollen identification of floral sources. The project will enable Canadian beekeepers to send honey and pollen samples for free analysis (shipping fees will be beekeepers’ responsibility) for the duration of the project.

Ms. Mélissa Girard, a M.Sc. graduate who has extensive training in both beekeeping and palynology (the scientific study of spores and pollen) will be in charge of the project and will continue to offer the service at an affordable price through the CRSAD when the project is concluded.

Pollen Reference Collection

In addition to honey and pollen analyses, a reference collection of pollen grains from all melliferous plant species of Canada will be created. Out of this collection, a photograph booklet and identification key of the pollen grains will be produced and made available.

The reference collection will be created with the help of research centers and universities from all over Canada sending flowers to the CRSAD. However, the help of the beekeepers, although optional, would be greatly appreciated. Potential flowers targeted for mono-floral honeys to be analysed could be collected and sent with honey samples. This would help in completing the pollen reference collection.

Procedure if you decide to collect flowers

Collect a full envelope (standard letter size) of freshly opened flowers from a single species.
Seal the envelope.
On the envelope, write down the plant species or common name, date of collection and the environment (forest, agricultural field, roadside, etc.)
Let the envelope dry under the sun for 2-3 days (through a window)

Amount of honey or pollen to send for analysis

Honey: 50g
Pollen: 50-100g of pellets (approximately 1/2-1 cup)*

*The total amount of pollen pellets must be mixed gently in order to homogenize the content prior to taking the sample. The pollen must be dried or kept frozen until mailing.

The identification form (English/French) must be filled and sent with the sample(s).

Shipping address for sample(s): Centre de recherche – services-conseils a/s Mélissa Girard 120-A, chemin du Roy Deschambault, Québec Canada, G0A 1L0 melissa.girard.apiculture@hotmail.com 1-418-656-2131 #8876

For more information, please contact Ms. Girard at the address and phone number above.

New Honey Bee Exhibits at Canada’s Virtual Museum & Agriculture Museum

workerbeej — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:10:00 +0000

The Canadian Agriculture Museum in Ottawa announces a new exhibit to celebrate and educate the public about honey bees and beekeeping in Canada.
Taking Care of Beesness opens March 1st, 2010 — just in time to welcome March break visitors to the nation’s capital, if you’re heading that way — and it runs until October 2010.

Discover the essential role bees play in the pollination of many Canadian food crops such as blueberries and apples, as well as to the production of honey and many other by-products, while you explore the role and the tools of the beekeeper. Check out the Museum’s live hive arriving in May and try to find the queen among all the workers and drones.

Not travelling to Ottawa?

You can still enjoy Bees, a Honey of an Idea, a new interactive “virtual” exhibit about bees, pollination, and apiculture presented by the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) and the Canadian Agriculture Museum.

Don’t miss the Hive Inspection Video, yummy honey recipes, and some great activities for school teachers, parents, and students of all ages… and maybe the rest of us, too!

New Website for City Beekeepers

workerbeej — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:06:21 +0000

A new online community dedicated to urban (and suburban) beekeepers, has just been announced. Site owner Michael Franklin, a landscape designer and “beekeeping enthusiast” from Louisiana, says he hopes UrbanApis will grow into “a place where beekeeping hobbyists can exchange information to help them become better beekeepers and connect with other enthusiasts in their area.”

Some of the features he’s been working on:

Original Articles — improve your skills and knowledge
Municipal Codes Search — to find out the codes related to beekeeping in your area, including state regulations where applicable
Hive Diaries — keep track of your activity or publish photos for everyone to see
Retail Directory — find supplies online
Message Boards — get in touch with other urban beekeepers and trade experiences

The site is just getting started –it launches officially on 1 February 2009 — so the information is still sparse (and much of it is specific to beekeepers in the United States), but this seems to be one of the few websites that sets out with a focus on urban beekeeping. City-dwellers with bees or an interest in keeping honeybees can check out this new community at www.UrbanApis.com.

CBA Bee Talk Forum

workerbeej — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:13:22 +0000

Update (October 2011):
Regrettably, we have once again had to remove the Bee Talk forum from the Central Beekeepers’ website. As with many forums and message boards, Bee Talk has been repeatedly hit with unsavoury commercial messages — most of which have nothing to do with the care and management of honey bees, resources for beekeepers, or beekeeping activities. An increasing percentage of these “spam” posts are also not what you might call “family friendly” in content. Moderation of these nuisance posts over the years has become increasingly demanding — especially for a site that’s run entirely by volunteer help — and it is now simply too time-consuming to justify the continuation of the Bee Talk forum. Our apologies for any inconvenience — you can blame the spammers, as is so often the case, for spoiling it for everyone else. Thank you, beekeepers, for your past contributions to Bee Talk. Please feel free to continue to add your knowledge and insights to the beekeeping conversation by using the comments sections at the end of each of our articles. Comments will appear on the website once they have been approved by the webmaster.

About the CBA Bee Talk Forum

Some of you may remember, years ago, when we had a forum? If so, you may recall that it was quite a job to keep the inappropriate spam ads from getting posted faster than we could take them down! That’s why the old forum was discontinued in the first place — it was hard to keep it “family friendly” for beekeepers because of ads for websites you really wouldn’t want to have to see!

Technology has come a long way in the last few years, however, so we thought we’d give it another try! In order to participate on the new forum, you’ll first have to register (free) and the system will send you a password to use whenever you want to leave a message or reply to someone else’s message on the forum. Hopefully that will help to keep the bad guys away!

Having our own CBA Bee Talk message board again should make it just a bit easier for you to talk about bees and beekeeping together, and to exchange advice, share our news, problems/solutions, and other beekeeping ideas.

Go ahead — check it out! :)