Vernon's Planet Bee says bees are flying, but winter losses were high

Bees back buzzing

Bees are beginning to buzz and come out of their hives for the season.

“They’re desperate to get outside, you can imagine, some of them haven’t been to the bathroom all winter,” says Edwin Nowek, owner of Planet Bee in Vernon. “Other ones just want to get out and get some fresh water, restore some of their fibre, and that sort of thing, in the hive.”

Nowek says his bees entered winter with lots of feed stores, but the cold weather hindered bees from accessing them, causing fatalities in his hives.

Sticking with the trend of the last few years, bees suffered higher than average over-winter fatalities.

“Numbers I’m hearing so far this spring is that they’re in the neighbourhood of 30%, even 40% losses, which is higher than average again, but the average keeps going up because we just don’t seem to be winning at that battle,” says Nowek.

The death of bees is nothing new. Nowek has been keeping bees since the 1970s and he says it was never this hard back then.

So what’s causing the decline? Max Macdonald runs Armstrong Apiaries and says bees have a multitude of stressors.

“You have the varroa mite, which is seen as the number one killer of bee colonies, you have the environment, you have other parasites, you have viruses, bacterial infections," says Macdonald. “There’s a lot of things to understand about colony health.”

Varroa mites specifically target and kill bees. Nowek says there was an initial treatment for the mites that was harmless to bees, but wasn’t enough to kill them entirely, and a stronger treatment started being used.

“I think that may have broken down the immune systems, the hardiness, of the bees to where now they’re susceptible to viruses that have always been around but it never killed the bees before, and now it can be killing them."

The provincial government has said the mites will always be present in a colony because to fully eradicate them would put a harmful amount of chemicals into a hive.

Another issue is large, monoculture farming operations. Bees need diversity to thrive, and huge farms of uniform crops not only lack diversity, but also have a much shorter season than other crop ranges might.

Nowek suggests home gardeners plant a variety of plants that flower at different times throughout the spring, summer and fall to provide a wide spectrum of forage for bees.

He also encourages bee lovers to think twice before using spray bombs to kill insects. Those insects are an important part of the ecosystem.

Macdonald wants people to think about how crucial bees are in our lives.

“What everybody can do is make space for bees, in your yard and in your life, because they are responsible for a third of the food on our plate," he says.

Macdonald had about 18% loss over his 500 colonies, but says losses vary from place to place. Nowek estimates he entered the winter with seven or more hives and is starting spring with just four.

“It’s a bit discouraging, but there’s always hope. There’s lots of interest in it all around the world, everyone is interested in how they can contribute and help to save the bees,” he says.

The good news is Nowek is seeing a lot of capped cells in the hives, meaning a lot of bee pupae. He expects to see young bees start hatching out in about 10 days, which means good things for the season.

“Every 10 bees that hatch out now can mean an extra 100 or 200 bees when it’s time for pollination and honey production.”

His bees are hard at work bringing pollen back to the hive, and Nowek is helping them along, as well. He's added what's essentially a pollen substitute as an extra food source for the hive.

In the early spring, Nowek also likes to make sure his bees are nice and cozy. It's important for them to stay warm. A cold snap in the spring is dangerous because of brood rearing in the hive.