Region’s beekeepers abuzz over recent research funding
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by Emily Leeson
Even though it’s still summer, Nova Scotia beekeeper Alex Crouse is already thinking about winter.
“We’re starting to look at colonies now,” he said recently. “This is when we’re going to have to start making decisions about what we’re going to overwinter and what these colonies need to survive into next spring.”
When it comes to the health of his bees, Crouse has always welcomed the advice and expertise of those researching honeybees in the region. With new funding announced on Aug. 13 to promote various projects aimed at improving the health of bee populations in Atlantic Canada, Crouse said that’s good news all around.
On Starr’s Point Road in Port Williams, N.S., Alex and Heather Crouse own and operate a business called Wood ’n’ Hive.
A beekeeper since 2008, Alex Crouse had a stormy start in the industry. After hurricane Juan in 2003 destroyed the woodlot on the family farm in Stewiacke, N.S., lowbush blueberries appeared. With pollination critical to the new blueberry operation, Crouse started out with 12 hives. Eventually, the Crouses decided to expand the business into the Annapolis Valley. Today, they have about 200 colonies spread across eight apiaries in Kings, Hants, and Colchester counties for honey production as well as bee and “nuc” (nuclear or starter) colony sales.
Crouse, who is president of the Nova Scotia Beekeepers Association, has had pretty good success with overwintering his bees. For the last few years, his winter losses have been around five to seven percent. That’s better than average. He said part of the secret to his success has been accessing the expertise and research of the Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture (ATTTA), which operates out of the Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc. location in nearby Kentville.
“I use a lot of their advice,” said Crouse. Whether it has to do with his own farm or his business with the association, Crouse said he’s pretty much in weekly contact with the team. Shortly, he will have even more reason to chat with them.
NEW FUNDS
On Aug. 13, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Nova Scotia Agriculture Minister Keith Colwell visited Glenmore Farms in Middle Musquodoboit, N.S., where they announced more than $800,000 in funding to support the health and productivity of the honeybee sector in Atlantic Canada.
That funding will support the research and extension program led by the ATTTA, benefiting all four Atlantic provinces.
Dr. Robyn McCallum, apiculturist and ATTTA program lead, said that the projects lined up will aim to optimize wild blueberry pollination, improve bee health and nutrition, improve honeybee overwintering success, investigate and manage bee diseases and pests, and optimize queen production in Atlantic Canada.
A few projects are already underway, with an emphasis on the blueberry industry.
McCallum said the team is investigating the timing of providing pollen supplements to hives to target stressful times, such as when the bees are pollinating, during nectar scarcity in the late summer, and when the winter bee population is being produced.
They’re also investigating the optimal hive stocking density in wild blueberries and the optimal percentage bloom for moving hives into the fields.
When it comes to pest and disease management, McCallum said they are testing new management methods to target major pests such as the Varroa mite and nosema, a micro-parasite that is the most common and widespread disease of adult honeybees.
Crouse said that sort of research is targeting some of the most important issues flagged by local beekeepers.
“I think the biggest challenge around bee health is managing Varroa mite and ensuring colony strength for winter survival,” he said. Managing those mites and diseases will help to ensure that the hives are strong enough to survive the winter.
“Major pests, including the Varroa mite, create the need for timely and effective management of hives, just like any other livestock,” said McCallum. “Nutrition – specifically addressing nutritional gaps and deficiencies – is of interest to beekeepers, and we have a number of projects to address this. Stressors, including movement of hives, limited forage, and fluctuating weather conditions can bring on additional health issues, so we are working with industry to minimize stressors and keep hives as healthy and productive as possible.”
QUEEN BEES
Another focus of the research is having the region become more self-sufficient in honeybee production.
The funding will support an investigation of the cost of production and efficacy of rearing local queens on-farm. That’s one focus Colwell is particularly interested in, especially as Nova Scotia has banned honeybee importation – except for queens – in the wake of the spread of contagious bee diseases such as Small hive beetle outside the province.
“Queens are separate from the ban,” he said. “There were about 250,000 queens imported to Canada last year from all over the world. Of that, we had imported about 3,200 in Nova Scotia. We want to reverse that.”
Colwell said he would like to see Nova Scotia honeybee production flourish such that beekeepers not only no longer need to import queens, but that they’re able to export them, providing another source of income for beekeepers.
Although the wild blueberry industry is still recovering from the late frost last year, Colwell said he expects pollination requirements to continue to expand. And that means more bees will be needed. He said bees are a crucial component of the region’s agricultural industry, providing pollination in the blueberry fields, vineyards, and other farm settings.
Although his bees are available to rent for pollination services, Crouse said that in recent years his own part in that end of the industry has been slightly more indirect.
“Typically, what we’ve been able to do in the past couple of years is to provide more bees to other beekeepers who do pollinations,” he said. “Some beekeepers – based on their pollination contracts – have been short, so we’ve been able to sell them bees to allow them to bolster up their colony numbers. So we do contribute to the pollination effort, but not necessarily by moving beehives to the blueberry fields in Nova Scotia.”
Nonetheless, he expects to benefit from the research this funding will support.
“Any funding that is ear-tagged for improving honeybee health in the Maritimes is great news,” he said.
