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Hive minding: Varroa mites latest challenge facing Shuswap beekeepers

Climate change, pesticide use also concerning for apiary owners
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Harmonic Hives owner Ryan Hopcott sells his honey and assorted beeswax products at farmers’ markets in Salmon Arm, Blind Bay and Scotch Creek. (Barb Brouwer photo)

Bees are critical to human survival and right now, they are under siege globally by varroa mites.

Varroa are external parasites that feed on the body fluids of adult and developing honey bees, causing physical damage, weakening bees and transmitting a variety of pathogens, particularly viruses, according to the BeeAware website.

In almost all cases, when varroa infestations are not effectively managed, they will eventually result in the death of the entire honey bee colony.

Last year, beekeepers in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario reported major colony losses due to the mites.

They are also a problem in B.C.

Longtime Turtle Valley Beekeeper Ted Kay said the mites are a global problem.

He retired in 2005 and spent the next 17 years developing a strain of bees that were resistant to the mites, without using any chemicals in the process.

“At that time, I was the only beekeeper in Turtle Valley,” he said, noting that isolation helped to protect his hives. “But new people came into Turtle Valley with a strain of bees that were susceptible.”

Kay said in spring, queens will go several kilometres in search of a mate.

Last year, his queen travelled along the valley to mate with drones from a strain that are susceptible to the mites and carried varroa back to his hives.

Over winter, he lost bees in three out of 14 colonies. There were some survivors, so Kay said he will keep them and add three more colonies.

He said tolerant bees are now rare, particularly as many commercial bees available to the average buyer will not be tolerant.

“We need a great reversal in everything we do in agriculture, it’s just not sustainable,” he said, noting chemical production is reducing soil quality by destroying organisms in the soil.

“There is a strong movement to support regenerative agriculture and there is a very fast recovery once you stop using chemicals.”

Read more: The buzz on honey bees and B.C. wildfires

Read more: UBC study shows honey bees can help monitor pollution in cities

Sweetacre Apiaries is a small commercial beekeeping operation located in Tappen.

Owner and longtime Tappen beekeeper Bill Stagg has 450 hives, sells bees and refers to keeping them as an intimate form of animal husbandry that has always faced challenges.

Stagg began keeping bees 20 years ago when there was Colony Collapse Disorder, which was first reported in 2006.

“Scientists never did figure out one thing as the prime contributor,” he said, noting varroa is today’s number-one problem. “But there are a lot of things bees face and they can only handle so much.”

Stagg said bees are connected to the feral environment and beekeepers don’t know enough to keep them alive in contained spaces. He believes that bees which have been exposed to varroa since the 1980s will become more tolerant over time.

“Within all that doom and gloom, I tend to be optimistic,” he said, noting he has taught hundreds of people how to keep bees and is pleased younger people are getting involved. “You have to know what you’re doing and keep on top of it, like any other business.”

One younger person who learned from Stagg is Ryan Hopcott, owner of Harmonic Hives.

He refers to his honey as “a taste of the Shuswap” as he maintains hives in Canoe, Skimikin, White Lake, Blind Bay, Eagle Bay, Sorrento and Scotch Creek.

A commercial beekeeper for five years, Hopcott said he lost 30 per cent of his 70 hives over the winter. While he agreed varroa was the main culprit, he has concerns about climate change, mono-crop farming and pesticide use.

“There’s a reason they’re locked up at Canadian Tire,” he said. “They are killers.”

Hopcott sells his honey and assorted beeswax products at farmers’ markets in Salmon Arm, Blind Bay and Scotch Creek.



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