With the summer approaching, the Abell team is preparing for Honey Bee season!

To start a new hive, beekeepers purchase a “nuc” (nucleus) from a local beekeeper. A nucleus is a smaller version of a normal beehive which might contain a queen bee or contains the eggs and the worker bees create a new queen. The Abell beekeepers are receiving their nucs from local beekeepers this month!

As part of the Abell Employee Bee Keeping program, we have 4 new hives currently being set up across Canada in addition to the one started last year. Read below to learn more about the Abell beekeepers:

Ruth

Ruth securing her hive to protect against the bears

 

Ruth lives in Barrie, Ontario and started her beehive last summer. She is excited to announce that her bees survived the long, cold winter and still have a very healthy, active hive.

She’s been with Abell since 1985 and is known by many as “the bug lady!” Ruth has always been passionate about insects and has a large vegetable garden that needs to be pollinated!

Here are some photos of Ruth tending to her hive from last year:

 

 

Feeding the bees sugar water

Smoking the beehive

 

Chris

In his career as a pest management professional, Chris has come across many bee colonies and in some cases, has unfortunately had to terminate a few. He always knew that there was a better way to save the bees while also helping homeowners remove bee swarms from their property.

He started talking to others inside Abell and realized that there were many others concerned with nature and the environment. Thanks to Chris and his colleagues, the Abell Saves Bees program was born!

Chris has been a beekeeper for the past 5 years and like many other beekeepers, has suffered losses.

“It’s difficult to keep everything alive and well, but it is very rewarding and worth the effort”

Cheryl

 

Cheryl, in downtown Vancouver, is preparing a brand new home for her honey bees on the rooftop of her apartment building! She has been with Abell for the past 6 years and is one of our most enthusiastic team members!

Cheryl knew she wanted to be a part of our beekeeping project because of her fascination with bees’ social structure and communication skills. She installed her nuc on June 6th and sent us these photos:

Sugar feed

“Queen Latifah”

 

Trevor

Trevor’s desire to become a beekeeper started with his childhood obsession with insects.

“Having a beehive was something I always wanted to do as a hobby and when Abell decided to begin a beekeeping program, I couldn’t say no.”

He says his wife, on the other hand, took a little while to warm up to the idea. She is excited to start this project but is terrified of bees! The one fear that Trevor has is that he is going to check on his hive and find that they’ve all disappeared.

His newfound beekeeping hobby will truly be a family activity as he is hoping his 2-year-old daughter, Audrina, will follow in his footsteps!

Mike

With the help of his wife, Marsha, Mike will be setting up his hive this month. They are ecstatic about the opportunity to have bees at their 10 acre home in South Western Ontario. The bees will have a beautiful new home here among the wildflowers and flowering trees.

 

“Honeybees are such a natural thing and having them at our home just seems like the right thing to do. Looking forward to all the learnings that come with the handling of bees.”

So far, Mike has learned the most from local beekeeping training sessions and is glad to see the large following of people interested in beekeeping.

 

There is such a huge online community of beekeepers that we have set up our own Twitter account to participate in conversations with beekeepers all over the world! Follow us @AbellSavesBees to see our updates and chat with us!