The next meeting of the CRBA is November 10 at St. Aiden’s.
All are welcome! This is our year end meeting in the form of a Pot Luck Diner. There will be no business discussed. Just lots of chatter between new and old beekeepers. Please bring a dish to share with your fellow beekeepers. More information about meetings can be found on the meetings page.
Happy beekeeping!
The next meeting of the CRBA is October 13 at St. Aiden’s.
All are welcome! Beginners are especially welcome and we are a friendly, helpful bunch. You really don’t want to start beekeeping from a book… much better to have a mentor or club helping you.
More information about meetings can be found on the meetings page.
Happy beekeeping!
Call Barry Denluck at 250-598-1159.
He can arrange for someone from the club to come and take the bees away. They’ll get a new home and you’ll feel good about not spraying them with Raid.
Note sure if it is a swarm of honeybees? Read more about honeybee swarms.
The next meeting of the CRBA is July 14 at St. Aiden’s.
All are welcome! Beginners are especially welcome and we are a friendly, helpful bunch. You really don’t want to start beekeeping from a book… much better to have a mentor or club helping you.
More information about meetings can be found on the meetings page.
Happy beekeeping!
An article in the online journal PloS ONE indicates the likely culprits in CCD are invertebrate iridescent virus and the microsporidian Nosema ceranae, working together in combination. Presumeably, varroa destructor gets the ball rolling by compromising the hive’s immune system.
The story is in more readable form in a New York Times article. But — oddly — it never mentions the virus and microsporidian.
Nosema ceranae is certainly widespread here. It’ll be interesting to see if IIV shows up and particularly when. Did it cause the massive die off on Vancouver Island last fall and winter? Seems unlikely, given that most losses seemed to be from varroa or nosema.
Beekeepers and supporters of local food security are holding a rally in support of the quarantine tomorrow:
Wednesday, September 22
12 noon
Front steps of the Legislature!
There’s a great poster over at Islandbees.ca.
We are swamped with spam, so I am turning off comments until I can get a way of controlling it.
- Dan
Small hive beetle is one of the key concerns for those arguing against wide open bee imports to Vancouver Island.
The University of Florida has a good overview of this distasteful little pest.
A larger concern is the demonstrated ability for the small hive beetle to attack bumblebee nests, at least in laboratory situations. Bumble bees are important pollinators, especially of native species, and are in decline in North America. According to the University of Ohio, there are unconfirmed reports of SHB infesting hives in the field.
More information on the bumble bee decline can be found at Sheila Colla’s website. She also has a list of news articles on the decline of bumblebees linked from her About Me page.
Sheila was also kind enough to send me a link on scientific studies related to bee conservation.
Post removed.
- Dan
Here’s an argument in favour of urban beekeeping in that most urban of places, New York City:
The arguments are good ones and it is nice to hear some good news on the beekeeping front.
If you are looking at putting bees on a roof, Kim Flottum has some advice.