Outlining Good Management Practices to Reduce and Mitigate Viral Infection – Part 3

The Three-Part Honey Bee Virus Series By Nicole McCormick. Alberta Tech Transfer Program Technician   How can you manage honey bee viruses in your operation? After learning about the many transmission routes of honey bee viruses, we can now use this knowledge to identify how we can effectively manage them. Unfortunately, there are currently no...

Identifying Viral Pathways of Transmission – Part 2

The Three-Part Honey Bee Virus Series By Nicole McCormick, Alberta Tech Transfer Program Technician   How are honey bee viruses transmitted? In part one of this three-part honey bee virus series, we learned how to identify clinical signs of common honey bee virus infections and to understand their effects on colony and bee health. Now,...

Early Spring Nutrition

  From late fall to spring, honey bees rely upon the food stores available in the hive. If adequately prepared for winter, the colony will be given the best chance at surviving the cold winter months. Once spring arrives, the colony is already in full brood rearing mode, building up the population for the coming...

Biosecurity

One of the key factors affecting colony loss is the presence of multiple pathogen and parasite loads, as well as the background levels of their infective agents within hive substrates, such as: wax, pollen, honey. Many pathogens can survive in hive substrate for multiple years, so beekeepers must adopt management practices that minimize disease spread....