Beekeepers in the Pontiac have been facing large scale bee die-offs. The bee deaths are largely attributed to the Varroa destructor, the Latin name for varroa mites, which have reportedly devastated bee populations across Canada.

“It’s probably normal to lose 20 per cent of your hives in the winter,” said Martin Schultz, owner of Schultz Apiaries in Shawville. “ But, there’s been reports of . . .

people losing 70 per cent and even 100 per cent.”

Schultz wouldn’t go into specifics with how many bees he lost over the winter, but says it was higher than normal.

“I think the last time that we would have had losses this bad would have been 2003,” said Schultz.

Randy Gagnon, another beekeeper based in Shawville, says he lost between 40 to 30 per cent of his bees last winter.

“I have some bees left, I didn’t lose them all, but I’m probably one of the lucky ones,” said Gagnon.

Both Schultz and Gagnon described that they have been having difficulty buying replacement bees to offset what they lost, as given the bee deaths is nationwide problem, supplies are low everywhere.

“We have been able to source bees from Ontario but not as many as we wanted, and they’re going to be arriving later in the season, which makes it difficult to actually get them to produce honey before the end of the season,” said Schultz.

Bob Valcov, who has 35 years beekeeping experience and is an instructor of backyard beekeeping at Heritage College, said that beehives can be preserved if beekeepers implement the proper treatments.

“I kept 10 hives in the winter and I lost one. Losing about 10 per cent of your hives is normal so I was very lucky,” said Valcov, who emphasised that he had a smaller number of bees than a commercial operation.

He explained that varroa mites attach themselves to bees when they are still in the larva stage of their development and remain so until they are fully grown.

“To humans a tick is a little spec, whereas the same size parasite on a bee would be like having a beach ball or a dinner plate attached to your body,” said Valcov.

Varroa mites then proceed to suck the fat out of the bee’s bodies, which weakens their resistance to other threats that they would typically be able to deal with and pass diseases to bees.

Valcov stressed that varroa mites aren’t killing bees by themselves, but instead are just another challenge which beekeepers have to deal with.

“There are a number of diseases; there are also parasites like tracheal mites, that bees have always had to contend with; there are also agricultural practices like spraying pesticides on fruit trees or on crops; There’s been bad weather, [like] excessive moisture, which can kill bees,” explained Valcov.

He suggested that the challenge introduced by the arrival of varroa mites should be understood as a tipping point that has led to the significant die offs beekeepers have been seeing recently.

“If you keep bees in this area, particularly in Western Quebec and in Eastern Ontario, you will have mites; they are ubiquitous,” said Valcov.

Schultz said that Quebec beekeepers have received confirmation from MAPAQ that certain insecticides that used to ward off varroa mites effectively in the past have become infective due to the mites developing a resistance over time.

In light of the declining effectiveness of older treatments, beekeepers are looking at new ways to protect their hives.

One thing beekeepers are doing to better fight against varroa mites is using and breeding honey bees that can protect themselves. This comes through cultivation of so-called ‘hygienic’ bees.

“You’re probably familiar with seeing pictures of monkey’s clean lice and other things off each other,” expanined Valcov. “So, there are bees being developed that do the same thing. And they’re called hygienic bees.”

Two types of hygienic bees are Buckfast and Russian bees, according to Valcov. “The name probably isn’t that popular right now because of the war in Ukraine, but Russian bees are more hygienic.”

In terms of practices, Schultz said that beekeepers need to start frequently checking their bee populations for mites.

Valcov explained other practices and treatments that can fight off the mites. One practice he described involved trapping the mites in one foundation of the hive and then removing them. Another involved spraying of formic acid in a hive which would kill the mites but not the bees.

“Another practice is to use powdered sugar and you kind of spray it on your bees,” said Valcov. “The bees go to eat it off each other and when they do that they remove the mites off of each other.”

Ultimately beekeepers working together to support each other is also an important aspect of the fighting the varroa mite problem in the future.

“We share best practices; we ask each other questions and buy equipment from each other. It’s a community,” added Valcov.

In terms of government policy, Schultz says that policies that were put in place to help prevent the spread of disease pests among the bee population may be preventing Canadian beekeepers from recovering their stocks.

“One of the barriers is that the border is closed between Canada,” said Schultz. “That is important to us because there’s a lot of beekeepers in the US, but we’re not able to purchase a replacement across the border, so we have to rely on replacements within Canada, which can be scarce.”

The huge loss of bees across Canada means that honey prices are going to increase and beekeepers are going to struggle, according to both Schultz and Valcov.

“We’re definitely going to have to downsize some of our honey sales,” said Schultz. “We are committed to being a local business. So, we’re going to prioritize the local businesses that we supply.”

Valcov says its important to “support a local beekeeper as they need your support and the honey is better too.”

Valcov further advised that this June if you see any swarms of honeybees, contact a local beekeeper so they can capture it, because given threats like varroa, bees are unlikely to survive in the wild.

As of now the bee industry’s future in Canada is unclear, but beekeepers are optimistic.

“I’m hopeful this is a one in twenty-year event, people will come back and rebuild their stocks, said Schultz. Hopefully next year will be good.”

Register or subscribe to read this content

Thanks for stopping by! This article is available to readers who have created a free account or who subscribe to The Equity.

When you register for free with your email, you get access to a limited number of stories at no cost. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to everything we publish—and directly support quality local journalism here in the Pontiac.

Register or Subscribe Today!