A.B.C began in January of 2010 after Eliese Watson attended the Impact! Youth for Sustainability Conference in the fall of 2009. It was there that she was inspired to follow her goal of creating accessible educational programming for individuals interested in learning more about honeybees and native bees. Through the Co-operators Youth Impact! grant, Eliese received $5,000 for the development of the project. With these funds, Eliese invited John Gibeau from the Honeybee Centre as a keynote speaker for A Night of Urban Beekeeping co-sponsored and held at the Calgary Zoo, Co-ordinated the co-op purchase of honeybees from Sweet Acre Apiaries (Sorrento, BC), organized 4 Level One Beekeeping Courses, and started the Bees n' Seeds collaborative program.

How do I get involved with A.B.C?

A.B.C offers many opportunities for individuals like you to get involved. There are various levels of involvement. Educational accesses from guest speaking events, to course and workshop programming (click here to see more). You can also host an A.B.C guest speaking event in your community. There are also opportunities and incentives to volunteer for the many A.B.C events occurring throughout the year. To learn more about volunteering opportunities, click here.

Why does A.B.C advocate for the Top-Bar Hive?

The Top-Bar Hive (TBH) is a method of beekeeping that mimics a fallen over log. It is an organic method of beekeeping that allows the honeybees complete freedom within their hive; comb design and shape, brood location and management, and honey storage and location. Conventional industrial beehives look like the white boxs that you may already be familiar with (click here to see a picture), these are called Langstroth hives. The frames of the hive have a foundation which is made of plastic or bees wax which defines the bees comb shape and size, diminishing the freedom of adaptability the honeybees have in the internal response to changing environmental factors such as forage, weather and diseases. By using the TBH, beekeepers are able to allow bees to act as a first response to changes occurring within the beehive microenvironment, making the honeybees less beekeeper dependant.

Does A.B.C accept volunteers?

A.B.C flourishes on the support of volunteers throughout the year! With the help of volunteers, A.B.C is able to access more public events, and able to put on more educational events. Click here to see the 2011 Volunteer PDF and see what A.B.C has planned for the 2011 year!

What is the Bumblebee Rescue and Foster Parent Program?

In the summer of 2010, A.B.C received an average of 3 phone calls a week throughout the summer from members of the Calgary community wishing for support with their bee nests. Most of these were not honeybees but bumblebee nests dug up throughout the homeowners gardening exploits. Some of these nests were in locations which were going to be developed, but the homeowners did not want to destroy the bee community, so they called A.B.C for advice. At the time we were unable to think of a way to help the bumblebees in distress. It wasnt until the fall that Eliese thought of a solution and began planning for the Bumblebee Rescue and Foster Parent Program. This is a program that will relocate distressed bumblebee nests to loving households throughout the city. This is a pilot program for 2011 and research on its success and development will be recorded this year. The research material will also be available to those who have living bumblebee colonies on their property which they intend to keep. The plan is to take a account of bumblebee species, locations, and numbers found throughout the city. Many bumblebee species are under distress with challenges to their habitat, forage, and nesting sites. Click here to read more about the Bumblebee Rescue and Foster Parent Program.

What is the Honeybee and Equipment Collaborative Purchase all about?

A.B.C recognizes the importance of diversity in all aspects of creating a sustainable system, and applies this to the health of honeybees. Over 90% of honeybees purchased by Albertan beekeepers annually are sourced from Industrial Bee Farms in New Zealand. A.B.C believes that bee health is more than just genetic indicators for health; it is about sustaining genetic diversity throughout bee colonies. Therefore, A.B.C has built a relationship with Bill Stagg of Sweet Acre Apiaries in Sorrento BC. Bill practices are non-agrichemical and advocates for open mating strategies for diversification. Therefore his bees are a blend of many types of European honeybee and range in colouration as they do for behaviour strengths.

With this relationship met, A.B.C co-ordinates the co-op purchase of honeybees for hobby beekeepers here in Calgary from Bill every spring. This allows hobbyists to access bees at a competitive price and ensure their access to honeybees from as sustainable and local a source as could be found! It also allows for hobby beekeepers to come together and make connections with other new beekeepers and share information about their experiences.

The equipment co-op is a way for beekeepers to access the benefits of bulk pricing on products, and also ensures that the beekeeper gets the tools that they need, and donât over or under purchase products!

The co-op rules and regulations are here. To learn more about the co-op and see more about how to get involved year-round, click here.

What programming does A.B.C do with children?

A.B.C offers classroom visits and private educational programming on pollinators to public, private, and home-schooling communitiesâ throughout Alberta. The programming ranges from 1-2 hour presentations about pollinators, to site visits and hive inspections. Please contact us at info@backyardbees.ca to find out how you can bring A.B.C to your classroom.

Where does A.B.C source its honeybees?

A.B.C sources its community honeybees from Bill Stagg of Sweet Acre Apiaries in Sorrento BC. Bill Stagg is a provincial hive inspector and well respected as an organic method beekeeper. He practices are non-agrichemical and he actively participates in progressive and alternative methods to treating honeybee diseases.

Can I get help with my beehives from A.B.C?

Yes. A.B.C offers mentorship opportunities for those who see help and support with their honeybee hive care throughout the year. Through seasonal preparations, swarm removal, disease management, and honey extraction, A.B.C can be there for you.

Is there an age limit to your courses?

Some courses are more intensive then others. The Level One Beekeeping Course is a 16 hour intensive classroom session, and is not recommended for children under the age of 12 because of the time. But realistically, all children are different. A.B.C will not restrict the youth from attending if the parent feels that the child would get a lot out of it. The Bees n' Seeds and Top Bar Hive workshops are less intensive and have hands on aspects that allow for younger youth to enjoy and attend. It is important that the youth is self-aware and respectful of the learning space and of others. Other than that, we are more than happy to share everything we know to a younger crowd!

Questions about your community...

How do I begin?

Sign-up for the monthly newsletter offered by A.B.C called Urban Buzz to keep up-to-date on the world of pollinators! Click here sign up!Contact your local beekeeping association. Click here to see a complete listing of beekeeping associations across Canada.Join the Calgary Honeybee Co-op. A.B.C holds Co-op meeting several times a year. The Co-op is an opportunity for you to connect with other beekeepers, find a local mentor, access discounted educational opportunities and gain access to honeybees and equipment. Click here to learn more about A.B.Cs Honeybee Collaborative Purchase. Take a beekeeping course and bond with fellow bee lovers! Become a part of the community. Click here to see a listing of upcoming educational opportunities.

Take part in volunteer opportunities and gain the benefits of discounted or free educational programming. Click here to learn more.

Can I keep bees in my community?

Contact your local bylaw office and access the bylaw regulations on pets and or land-management regulations. You can also contact your local beekeeping association to find out more. Click here to see contact your local beekeeping association. Questions about Bees...

What is CCD?

CCD stands for Colony Collapse Disorder. It was first identified on the eastern sea-board of the United States in 2003. Since then, beehives, domestic and feral, have been succumbing to the 'disease'. The initial indicators of CCD were the complete abandonment of the beehives by the bees without any trace of swarming behaviour. To understand the really terrifying aspect of this behaviour is to know how bees behave normally. All worker bees are female, and their role is to ensure the health of the brood (eggs, larva, and pupae) by ensuring that they are fed and cleaned. When beehives swarm, half of the colony always stays behind to ensure the safety and survival of the brood. So, for bees to evacuate without caring and nurturing for their sisters (brood is mostly baby workers), then you have an extreme change of behaviour.

Traditional beekeeping methods have been intensive and aggressive. In Alberta in 2008 there were 620 beekeepers and 226,000 hives, averaging about 360 hives per beekeeper*(ref at footnote-1). Since the challenges faced with beekeeping from CCD, the spread of disease, agricultural pressures of monoculture crops, the boarders to the USA were closed in 1984*2. These challenges have caused the incredible increase of demand over supply, forcing beekeepers to look for 'stock' (GM bees, resistant varieties) from New Zealand and Australia. Canada, with this stock, produced over 26.0 million pounds of honey just last year*1. It is hard to realize the real monetary pressures beekeepers are facing with the decline of the honeybee. The value of pollination to Canadian agriculture (the orchard industry for example) is estimated to be worth close to $1 billion per year*2. Incredible as it may seem, more incredible is the fact that in Canada, we import from New Zealand 99 per cent of our bees. That means that less then 1% of bees are produced in our country. These queens come, lacking genetic variations because they are produced by massive apiaries, are weak from working two summers in a row. The productivity of these bees is poor and our apiculture is becoming dependant on buying new bees every year instead of sustaining its own stock!

Knowing this, is it really incredible that beekeepers are being more careful with their bees? Looking at more holistic methods of caring for their bees: feeding them the honey they create instead of High-fructose corn syrup over the winter, being more selective with chemical treatments, sensitivity to pesticides used in their areas. Regional stock, bees kept, bred, split, and queened in local areas are hard to find in large quantities, but support the hobbyist!

THIS IS WHY urban beekeeping and the support of hobby apiculture is essential to the livelihood of bees and humans. Like Alberta has seen the decline of the small wheat farmer to big-Ag, family lands sold to mega-corporations, so are beekeeping and bee-genetics being lost! As a hobbyist you are able to get unique bees, let them breed with your neighbours bees, and make new blood lines. Small scale beekeepers also have more time to be diligent with their bees, ensuring their health and survival through the winter.

I want to thank everyone for coming to Seedy Saturday, for taking time to remember the importance of variation in our ever-increasing invariable world. By planting your seeds, you are offering forage for your neighbours pollinators, and your neighbours pollinators are ensuing a fruitful harvest and perpetuation of plant species. It is said that flowers are the fountains of life, and bees are the messengers of love. How true this is!

*1 http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/sdd12940

*2 http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1184695493293&lang...

What is Top-bar beekeeping and how is it different?

The Top-Bar Hive (TBH), click here to see a picture, is a method of beekeeping that mimics a fallen over log. It is an organic method of beekeeping that allows the honeybees complete freedom within their hive; comb design and shape, brood location and management, and honey storage and location. Conventional industrial beehives look like the white boxs that you may already be familiar with (click here to see a picture), these are called Langstroth hives. The frames of the hive have a foundation which is made of plastic or bees wax which defines the bees comb shape and size, diminishing the freedom of adaptability the honeybees have in the internal response to changing environmental factors such as forage, weather and diseases. By using the TBH, beekeepers are able to allow bees to act as a first response to changes occurring within the beehive microenvironment, making the honeybees less beekeeper dependant.

What kinds of bee are native Canada and how are they different?

There are two major groups of pollinators identified throughout Canada: solitary nesting bees, and semi-solitary nesting bees. The solitary nesting bees fall under the three distinct groups: Leaf Cutter Bees, Mason Bees and Carder Bees. These are bees whom nest in decomposing wood. They are solitary bees because the eggs are laid in a pocket of organic matter within holes of decomposing wood with their food source. The mother is not responsible for feeding the larva. Similar to a chicken embryo within the egg shell, the solitary bee is surrounded by enough food to reach maturity and chew its way out of the organic casing and out in to the wild. Click here for more information about solitary bees. Semi-solitary bees on the other hand are identified as bumblebees. Bumblebees are considered semi-solitary based on their nesting habits. With Bumblebees the queen over winters alone underground in poorly drained soils. The moist soil allows for her to create an environment not unlike an igloo and maintain heat enough keeping her alive with her food surplus. Therefore, the bumblebees that are working in the nest only need to create enough food surplus to feed the queen over the winter, and the responsibilities for the worker bumblebees is limited throughout the summer. Therefore, the bees territorial behaviours over the safety of their nest are minimal.

What is the difference between honeybees and wasps?

Honeybees gain their protein from the collection of pollen from flowers. Pollen is an integral part of honeybee life as the honey itself as it is mixed with the honey to feed the brood and worker bees. Pollen is rich in vitamins and minerals which allows for the bees to remain healthy.

Wasps on the other hand gain their protein from other organisms, wasps are predatorial. This is an important part of the ecosystem because they are tertiary predators within the insect ecosystem; they eat spiders, aphids, caterpillars, and other insects. As predators, wasps are opportunists and therefore can be seen as a nascence to a BBQ party or picnic. Commonly mistaken for one another, honeybees and wasps are quite different in behaviour because of their food interests. Click here for a picture of a wasp compared to a honeybee.

What is the difference between honeybees and bumblebees?

Honeybees and bumblebees are very different from one another. A honeybee is a communal insect originating from the European and Asiatic continents. Honeybees are non-native to North America and were brought over by European colonists. Honeybees live in large communities year-round, populations ranging from 6- 60 thousand individuals. Honeybees store their food resources in wax comb that hangs perpendicular to the earth. This comb hexagonal in shape and is used for both the development of brood and the storage of honey and pollen. The food stuffs are eaten by the bees throughout the summer to feed the developing bee larva and throughout the winter months to help sustain the health of the winter honeybee populations as they buzz and move to keep warm.

Bumblebees on the other hand are native to North America and are very special in their nesting behaviours. Bumblebees are considered semi-solitary based on their nesting habits. They create `pots` made of wax which sits parallel to the ground facing up. Bumblebees store their food surpluses in these pots and also their brood. With Bumblebees the queen over winters alone underground in poorly drained soils. The moist soil allows for her to create an environment not unlike an igloo and maintain heat enough keeping her alive with her food surplus. Therefore, the bumblebees that are working in the nest only need to create enough food surplus to feed the queen over the winter, and the responsibilities for the worker bumblebees is limited throughout the summer. Therefore, the bees territorial behaviours over the safety of their nest are minimal.

>Solitary bees are insects that gain their protein from pollen sources and nest in a solitary fashion. This means that all females of these species are capable of laying fertilized eggs and creating a nesting site. After the eggs are layed, the mother bee will leave the nesting site and no longer care for the young. The eggs hartch in to larva, and the larva eat all of the pollen in one feeding, spin cucoons, pupate, and hatch out at mature bees. In the winter, these insects survive in egg form only.

What do bees do in the winter?

Bees do something in the winter called clustering. The bees decrease their populations as they enter the winter months, the queen decreases the amount of brood laid, and throughout the winter there are times when there is no brood at all. The bees cluster like penguins in the winter, allowing for heat to be shared evenly between the bees. If a single bee has access to the food storages, the whole cluster has access to the food storages. Honeybees share the food evenly between them. The buzzing sound of honeybees comes from their wing muscles vibrating. This vibration creates friction and causes the bees to create their own heat. This heat radiates throughout the hive, and with the bio-mass of the honey storages, the bees are able to maintain a mean temperature throughout winter, even if outside weather conditions remain variable extremes! Honeybees also do not defecate within the hive, therefore they will fly short distances on nice days to relieve themselves. Honeybees will use these days to clean out the hive of dead bees. It is important that the honeybees maintain a hygienic hive over the winter as they are less active and more susceptible to disease!

What is a Swarm?

When bees swarm, it is the action of a single hive perpetuating their populations. Swarming occurs for a couple of reasons: A) A queen is weak and or the colony is experiencing some dislike for her. They will push her out of the brood areas and sometimes suppress her from lying. She will gather her loyal subjects and fly away looking for a new hive location. B) The hive has become too small and the bees have decided to split up. In both situations, new queens will be made and the old queens will be the ones to leave the hive. A swarm is a harmless but fantastic sight to see. The bees that are going to leave the hive gorge themselves of honey since when they leave; they dont know how successful their search for a new hiving space is going to be, or how long it will be until their next meal. Because of their full stomachs, they are not able to as easily arc their bodies enough to release their stinger. They also are more concerned with where the queen and other bees are then they are at identifying threats; they are all completely concerned with a safe nesting site!

How do you get different types of honey?

Honeybees are very efficient. As they are seeking the most opportunity for food surplus with the least amount of work, honeybees are able to scan their environment and seek out the flower with the best nectar load available within that ecosystem. Honeybees are eager to supply their hive with as much honey surplus as possible because they need to be able to feed thousands of bees over the winter months.

Here is my A.B.C analogy: Imagine we are in the middle of an apple orchard in August and I gave you a bucket. This bucket would be all of the fruit you could have all winter and I gave you a time limit to pick the fruit. Would you A. run from tree to tree picking as you went or B. Run to a single tree and strip it. I hope that you would pick B. for several reasons. Primarily because the less running you do, the more energy you will have to pick the apples and secondly, picking a tree that has the most ripe apples in one spot and sticking to it means more accessible surpluses. This is what honeybees do. As a community, the bees will pick up on the species of flower that has the highest nectar load and seek it out as a community. There are scout bees that will be the ones on the move looking for more opportune nectar sources. They will come back to the hive, do their bee dance, share a taste of the nectar found with the other bees and if they are persistent enough, they will gain an entourage of bees going after the new nectar sources. But, more often than not, colony of bees will seek out a single species of flower for several days giving the honey stored from that nectar that unique flavour or colour. So, in a single hive you can have several combs of different types of honey depending on what the bees are going after. Beekeepers are able to identify the types of honey by looking at the honey under a microscope and seeing the pollen grains within the honey. If a majority of pollen grains are of a single species, you have a specialized flavour: buckwheat, dandelion, clover etc.

Are there any wild honeybees?

This is a controversial question. Many conventional beekeepers say no; they believe that the diseases that are reaping havoc on the commercial system have killed all of the wild colonies, and therefore it is the responsibility of the beekeeper to do everything in its power to manage and manipulate the honeybees we have left. Personally I feel that this is a naive generalization. I have more hope than that, and only some proof to stand it on. I believe that it is in the wild populations where you will find resiliency and durability against the diseases and challenges facing the commercial systems. Because the bees have the freedoms of adapting to the changing environment that is not accessible to domestic honeybees, I feel that although they are feeling the weight of the new challenges, that if any bees are able to come through with flying colours, we will find it in the wild colonies. I believe that the hope and dependency on man-made solutions to man-made problems in like a dog chasing its tail to some effect. I believe that nature takes its course if you let it, and the ancient wisdom found in the genetic variability within the honeybee populations is deeper than we understand. The more we alienate the genetics of honeybees by selectively breeding them and then transporting these selective genetics by the millions across the globe will only enhance the potential loss of honeybees as a species! So, even if you havent seen a wild colony (I know that I have, a healthy ones at that), it doesnt mean that they dont exist, it just means that they might know what is good for them and keep to themselves.

How do bees procreate?

The entire livelihood of a honeybee colony depends on the health and survival of the queen bee. The queen bee is the only honeybee in the hive to lay eggs and to produce female offspring. A queen bee is born just like any other bee. She is layed as an egg in to a regular honeycomb cell. It is the actions of the worker bees that make the little egg become the future queen of the colony. The worker bees first create a separate honeycomb cell called a queen cup. When the hive decided that they would like to create a new queen, see swarming, the workers will pick out an egg that is less than 1 day old. They will move the egg in to the queen cup and feed it royal jelly throughout its larval gestation, while other worker bees only eat if for the first few days of development, they eat a mixture of pollen and honey called brood food. When the queen chews her way out of her cell after 16 days of development, she is now an unmated queen. That means that she is unable to lay fertilized eggs.

When the weather is clear and warm, she will go out on a mating flight and go to an area known as the drone congregation area. The DCA is a place where drones (male bees born from unfertilized eggs) from several hives, acting as sources of variable genetic code, wait for a queen bee to arrive. They are flying about 10 feet off of the ground. When she arrives, the drones sweep in and mount her. They insert their endophallus in to the queen, which remains intact as the drone falls off of the queen and dies. Another drone will swoop in, remove the endophallus of the previous drone and insert its own. This happens several times until the queen flies back to her colony. A queen will only go on one mating flight within her lifetime. All of the sperm from the drone bees are stored within the queens spermatheca for the rest of her life. She is then capable of actively deciding whether to lay fertilized or unfertilized eggs. This variability in the male genetic code is then reflective within the single hive community.

Can you start with just a queen bee?

No. A queen bee is unable to create wax comb, feed and groom herself, and or feed the larva after they have been laid. That is why worker bees are needed to act as nurse bees for both her and the brood.

Where do you place your beehive in your yard?

A) Entrance should face east or south-south east. You want lots of morning sun and dappled sunlight in the middle afternoon.

B) Place it in a loosely used location in your yard, not a place that is busy.

C) Make sure that within 5m of the entrance, you don’t have a changing environment (ex. Car park, pathway ect) so that the bees become stressed or excessively curious.

D) If your hive is going to be in a location near a path or facing a neighbour's yard, it is a good idea to put in a barrier within 3 feet of the entrance that will force the bees to fly up and level out their flight above head height.

$0.00

0 items in your cart.

Newsletter Sign-up

Main

February 2012
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29
«Jan Mar»