Improving honey bee queen health as the basis of integrated colony health

The University of Lethbridge and the Alberta Beekeepers Commission are working together to improve the health of Alberta’s honey bees. Beekeepers in Alberta face high levels of colony winter loss, and they have also had difficulty accessing quality imported queens. ‘Poor queens’ are one of the most common reasons for winter loss cited by beekeepers. We will examine the linkages between queen health and colony success, and the factors that mediate these relationships. Specifically, the proposed project will examine methods of requeening and storing locally bred queens. This project will also examine the linkages between queen health and productivity, queen pheromones, worker behaviours, and colony performance, providing beekeepers with on-farm methods by which they can evaluate queens before introducing them into colonies.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jennifer Copeland;Shelley Hoover

Student:

Partner:

Alberta Beekeepers Commission

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

University of Lethbridge

Program: