Health Canada, after seven long years of study, has finally concluded what a lot of other governments, including all of Europe, have already decided: neonicotinoid pesticides aren’t good for bees and pollinators. Having been the victims of a callous spraying incident by a Richmond farmer, who killed a lot of our bees, we could have […]
Painting New Honey Supers For The Coming Season
It is barely spring here in the Creston Valley, and we’re just gearing up to go into pollination in the cherry orchards for which this place is famous. As I’d previously reported, we bought Swan Valley Honey last July and made the consequential leap of moving from the Vancouver area to Creston. As we wait […]
World Supplier of Nosema Medication Fumagilin-B Shuts Down
Beekeepers have an increasingly difficult time keeping their bees healthy. Whether it is mites, a stunning array of viruses, small hive beetle or the two versions nosema, Nosema apis and its more virulent cousin, Nosema ceranae, there seems no end of ways for bees to get sick and die. The Canadian and U.S. governments recently […]
Alberta Small Hive Beetle find means trouble for B.C. beekeepers
Small Hive Beetle, a nasty little pest that B.C. has already had a small taste of, has raised its ugly head in Alberta. And, as seems to be the case so often these days, it is as a result of hitching a ride with an unsuspecting beekeeper. The situation in this case is much more […]
New honey in our Swan Valley operations in Creston!
It’s that time. We’re pulling the first honey of the season off our new yards in Creston and getting it bottled for delivery to waiting customers. This week is an important one for us: we’re still in the midst of moving to Creston and are juggling two operations at Swan Valley Honey and at Honey […]
New adventures for Honey Bee Zen Apiaries and Swan Valley Honey
Honey Bee Zen Apiaries Ltd. has bought Swan Valley Honey, the primary producer of honey for the Kootenays. We’ll be moving to Creston this summer and will continue producing the products both companies are known for.
A Canadian honey goes to the North American Beekeeping Show
Amanda and I just came back from the North American Beekeeping Conference in Galveston, Texas, the annual confluence of the brightest minds and most wilful beekeepers you can imagine. This is the time of the year when beekeepers tend to charge up their minds; for the most part the bees are in bed for the […]
If you are a bee, how the New York Times sees you
As a journalist I have been a fan of the New York Times for a long time. As a beekeeper, I have another reason to like them. Joanna Klein’s interesting take this week on explaining the life of a bee breaks a few journalist conventions. One, of course, is writing in the second person. But […]
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Picking Blueberries With Sandhill Cranes: A Summer Event
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Canada’s ban on honey bee imports is folly, says B.C.’s biggest beekeeper
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Treating bees with oxalic acid; a late-winter mite-killing exercise
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Battling honey bee chalkbrood an expensive, maddening affair
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Four apiary sites in B.C.’s Fraser Valley found with small hive beetles
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Canada Bans Neonicotinoid Pesticides On Most Foods – Finally
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Painting New Honey Supers For The Coming Season
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World Supplier of Nosema Medication Fumagilin-B Shuts Down
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Alberta Small Hive Beetle find means trouble for B.C. beekeepers
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New honey in our Swan Valley operations in Creston!
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Sean Clancy: Have you tried HiveAlive yet? The published data o...
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Kyle Wayne: I'm glad you mentioned how the best time to remov...
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Gary Thompson: Congratulations on another successful year in the ...
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Tom Hardern: Just found you today by accident... The name caugh...
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Jeff: They are open from early morning to dusk; they use...
