Five million bees escape after crates of hives fall off truck in Canada/Nearly 50% of US bee colonies died off last year, although efforts have helped the overall bee population remain ‘relatively stable’/Honey Bee Removal at My Home

 

Police near Toronto have warned drivers to keep their car windows closed after a truck spilled crates carrying five million bees on to a road. Halton regional police said they received a call about 6.15am on Wednesday reporting the bee crates had come loose from a truck and spilled on to a road in Burlington, Ontario.

“We’re not sure how or what exactly took place but at some point the boxes containing bees or beehives slid off the trailer and spilled all over the road,” Constable Ryan Anderson, told CBC News.

 

It was “quite the scene”, Anderson said. “Crates were literally on the road and swarms of bees were flying around,” he said. “The initial beekeeper that was on scene was apparently stung a few times.”

The scene prompted police to warn drivers to close their windows as they passed by and for pedestrians to avoid the area. About an hour after police put out a notice on social media, several beekeepers got in touch, offering to help. Six or seven beekeepers eventually arrived at the scene, Anderson said.

By about 9.15am, police said most of the five million bees had been safely collected and the crates were being hauled away. Some crates had been left behind for the uncollected bees to return to them on their own.

It is thought the bees may have been part of a pollination service, in which farmers hire beekeepers to help pollinate their crops. A colony of honeybees in summer has about 50,000 to 80,000 bees, according to the Canadian Honey Council, a national association of beekeepers.

 

Nearly 50% of US bee colonies died off last year, although efforts have helped the overall bee population remain ‘relatively stable’

The US’s honeybee hives just staggered through the second highest death rate on record, with beekeepers losing nearly half of their managed colonies, an annual bee survey found.

But by using costly and herculean measures to create new colonies, beekeepers are somehow keeping afloat. Thursday’s University of Maryland and Auburn University survey found that even though 48% of colonies were lost in the year that ended 1 April, the number of US honeybee colonies “remained relatively stable”.

Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating more than 100 of the crops we eat, including nuts, vegetables, berries, citruses and melons. Scientists said a combination of parasites, pesticides, starvation and effects of the climate crisis keep causing large die-offs.

 

Last year’s 48% annual loss is up from the previous year’s loss of 39% and the 12-year average of 39.6%, but it’s not as high as 2020-2021’s 50.8% mortality rate, according to the survey, which was funded and administered by the non-profit research group Bee Informed Partnership. Beekeepers told the surveying scientists that a 21% loss over the winter is acceptable and more than three-fifths of beekeepers surveyed said their losses were greater than that…  The Guardian

On July 12, 2023 at My Home: a Successful Removal to a Honey Bee Farm: City Bee Savers, Wheaton, Illinois: https://www.citybeesavers.com/