scholarly journals Honey Bee Queen Production: Canadian Costing Case Study and Profitability Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 1618-1627
Author(s):  
Miriam Bixby ◽  
Shelley E Hoover ◽  
Robyn McCallum ◽  
Abdullah Ibrahim ◽  
Lynae Ovinge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Rigorous Analysis ◽  
Colony Losses ◽  
Early Season ◽  
Profitability Analysis ◽  
Local Supply ◽  
Honey Bee Queen ◽  
Queen Production

Abstract The decline in managed honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony health worldwide has had a significant impact on the beekeeping industry. To mitigate colony losses, beekeepers in Canada and around the world introduce queens into replacement colonies; however, Canada’s short queen rearing season has historically limited the production of early season queens. As a result, Canadian beekeepers rely on the importation of foreign bees, particularly queens from warmer climates. Importing a large proportion of (often mal-adapted) queens each year creates a dependency on foreign bee sources, putting beekeeping, and pollination sectors at risk in the event of border closures, transportation issues, and other restrictions as is currently happening due to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Although traditional Canadian queen production is unable to fully meet early season demand, increasing domestic queen production to meet mid- and later season demand would reduce Canada’s dependency. As well, on-going studies exploring the potential for overwintering queens in Canada may offer a strategy to have early season domestic queens available. Increasing the local supply of queens could provide Canadian beekeepers, farmers, and consumers with a greater level of agricultural stability and food security. Our study is the first rigorous analysis of the economic feasibility of queen production. We present the costs of queen production for three Canadian operations over two years. Our results show that it can be profitable for a beekeeping operation in Canada to produce queen cells and mated queens and could be one viable strategy to increase the sustainability of the beekeeping industry.

scholarly journals Honey bee queen production: Canadian costing case study and profitability analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Bixby ◽  
Shelley E. Hoover ◽  
Robyn McCallum ◽  
Abdullah Ibrahim ◽  
Lynae Ovinge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Production Operation ◽  
Profitability Analysis ◽  
Honey Bee Queen ◽  
Queen Production ◽  
The Cost

AbstractThe recent decline in honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony health worldwide has had a significant impact on the beekeeping industry as well as on pollination-dependent crop sectors in North America and Europe. The pollinator crisis has been attributed to many environmental and anthropological factors including less nutrient rich agricultural monocultures, pesticide exposure, new parasite and pathogen infestations as well as beekeeper management and weather. Canadian beekeepers have indicated that issues with honey bee queens are the most significant factor affecting their colony health. In Canada, beekeepers manage colony losses by relying on the importation of foreign bees, particularly queens from warmer climates, to lead new replacement colonies. Unfortunately, the risks associated with imported queens include the introduction of new and potentially resistant pests and diseases, undesirable genetics including bees with limited adaptations to Canada’s unique climate and bees negatively affected by transportation. Importing a large proportion of our queens each year also creates an unsustainable dependency on foreign bee sources, putting our beekeeping and pollination sectors at an even greater risk in the case of border closures and restrictions. Increasing the domestic supply of queens is one mitigation strategy that could provide Canadian beekeepers, farmers and consumers with a greater level of agricultural stability through locally bred, healthier queens. Our study is the first rigorous analysis of the economic feasibility of Canadian queen production. We present the costs of queen production for three case study operations across Canada over two years as well as the profitability implications. Our results show that for a small to medium sized queen production operation in Canada, producing queen cells and mated queens can be profitable. Using a mated queen market price ranging from $30 to $50, a producer selling mated queens could earn a profit of between $2 and $40 per queen depending on price and the cost structure of his operation. If the producer chose to rear queens for his own operation, the cost savings would also be significant as imported queen prices continue to rise. Our case studies reveal that there is potential for both skilled labour acquisition over time in queen production as well as cost savings from economies of scale. Our queen producers also reduced their production costs by re-using materials year to year. Domestic queen production could be one viable strategy to help address the current pollinator crisis in Canada.

Local Honey Bee Queen Production and Quality

Bee World ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-32
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Walsh ◽  
Juliana Rangel
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bee Queen ◽  
Queen Production

scholarly journals Effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMF) on honey bee queen development and mating success

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Odemer ◽  
Franziska Odemer
Keyword(s):  
Electromagnetic Radiation ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Colony Development ◽  
List Type ◽  
Colony Losses ◽  
Honey Bee Queen ◽  
Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation

ABSTRACTMobile phones can be found almost everywhere across the globe, upholding a direct point-to-point connection between the device and the broadcast tower. The emission of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMF) puts the surrounding environment inevitably into contact with this pollutant. We have therefore exposed honey bee queen larvae to the radiation of a common mobile phone device (GSM) during all stages of their pre-adult development including pupation. After 14 days of exposure, hatching of adult queens was assessed and mating success after further 11 days, respectively. Moreover, full colonies were established of five of the untreated and four of the treated queens to contrast population dynamics. We found that mobile phone radiation had significantly reduced the hatching ratio but not the mating success. If treated queens were successfully mated, colony development was not adversely affected. We provide evidence that RF-EMF only acts detrimental within the sensitivity of pupal development, once succeeded this point, no further impairment has manifested in adulthood. Our results are discussed against the background of long-lasting consequences for colony performance and the possible implication on periodic colony losses.HIGHLIGHTSChronic RF-EMF exposure significantly reduced hatching of honey bee queensMortalities occurred during pupation, not at the larval stagesMating success was not adversely affected by the irradiationAfter the exposure, surviving queens were able to establish intact coloniesGRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

scholarly journals An investigation of honey bee virus prevalence in managed honey bees (Apis mellifera and Apis cerana) undergone colony losses: a case study in China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanchun Deng ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
Xuejian Jiang ◽  
Sa Yang ◽  
Shuai Deng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Apis Cerana ◽  
Colony Losses ◽  
Queen Cell ◽  
Bee Virus ◽  
Paralysis Virus ◽  
Bee Viruses

Abstract Objective: In the absence of known clinical symptoms, viruses were considered to be the most probable key pathogens of honey bee. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and distribution of honey bee viruses in managed Apis mellifera and Apis cerana in China. Results: We conducted a screening of 9 honey bee viruses on A. mellifera and A. cerana samples collected from 54 apiaries from 13 provinces in China. We found that the types and numbers of viruses significantly differed between A. mellifera and A. cerana. Black queen cell virus (BQCV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), Apis mellifera filamentous virus (AmFV) and Kakugo virus (DWV-C/KV) were the primary viruses found in A. mellifera colonies, whereas Chinese sacbrood bee virus (CSBV) and sacbrood bee virus (SBV) were the primary viruses found in A. cerana. The percentage infection of BQCV and CSBV were 84.6% and 61.6% in all detected samples. We first detected the occurrences of Varroa destructor virus-1(VDV-1, DWV-B) and DWV-C/KV in China but not ABPV in both A. mellifera and A. cerana.

Production and transmission of honey bee queen (Apis mellifera L.) mandibular gland pheromone

1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 321-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Naumann ◽  
Mark L. Winston ◽  
Keith N. Slessor ◽  
Glenn D. Prestwich ◽  
Francis X. Webster
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Mandibular Gland ◽  
Honey Bee Queen

scholarly journals A national survey of managed honey bee 2015–2016 annual colony losses in the USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 328-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Kulhanek ◽  
Nathalie Steinhauer ◽  
Karen Rennich ◽  
Dewey M Caron ◽  
Ramesh R Sagili ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Colony Losses ◽  
The Usa

Modeling the Economic Feasibility of Large-Scale Net-Zero Water Management: A Case Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 88 (9) ◽  
pp. 811-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianjiao Guo ◽  
James D. Englehardt ◽  
Howard J. Fallon
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Net Zero
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