Summa Time!

Summer’s bee’n great so far and the bees have definitely needed that to recuperate! Here are the newest developments:

Update 1: Unfortunately we lost a record amount of hives during winter 2016/17. I couldn’t believe it! Some of the strongest hives going into winter 2016, had plenty of honey left but just weren’t able to break away from the cluster to reach their storage.

Update 2: To make matters worse, just when it started to get warm enough for the bees to make their first appearance for a cleansing flight, we spotted this nasty sign in the neighboring park.

I realize Lesser Celandine (Buttercup family) is an invasive plant but it has been scientifically proven that pesticides weaken bee hives and “probably cause cancer.” So what’s the greater evil here? There’s no livestock in or near the park either so their reason makes no sense. It’s like every year they randomly decide on some invasive plant that needs spraying…in previous years, it was Knotweed, Ivy, Holly, etc. I really question their motive and timing. Bees have enough forces against them (parasites, diseases, poor diets, harsh weather, etc.).

We feared that the upcoming applications of Roundup would push our remaining bees over the edge. I’m not usually the type to complain but there’s something very wrong with placing a sign like that in an unsuspecting place as if it were the most natural event.

It was time to protest so we rounded up as many neighbors as possible and made some calls to the district of Saanich. By the end of the day, they had removed the sign and in the upcoming days they proceeded to remove the plant manually (and it only took a few hours). Thank you!! You may just have saved a hive because they were free to roam around without getting intoxicated. Win win for everyone.

Update 3: Due to the loss of so many bees, we’ve been beesy splitting hives (more on this later). The good news is that we’ve not had any swarms and the weather has just been golden! Obviously, we won’t bee harvesting honey anytime soon though.

Update 4: We visited the best beekeeper around, the well known Heinz whose garden showcases his expertise with plants, bees and building. It’s truly unique. Take a look here: