There was a lot of buzz as the day of the honey bee was celebrated May 29 at Roberts Creek Farmers Market.
Organized by the Sunshine Coast Beekeepers Association, the event was very well attended, despite the rain. Minutes before the Market opened, one local beekeeper drove to his nearby apiary site and removed a frame of comb containing the queen, recently laid eggs, larvae in various stages of development and a retinue of worker bees. The frame was placed in a beautiful glass-sided observation hive (built for the occasion by another local beekeeper) and brought to the Market.
Curious onlookers - especially children - could easily observe the bees interacting, and many were able to spot the queen amongst the hundreds of workers. One group of children watched patiently and saw a baby bee being born, chewing her way gradually out of her wax covered cell before fully emerging.
Pamphlets from the B.C. Honey Producers Association containing information about the critical role honey bees play in pollination, provincial and federal honey production and other bee-related facts were distributed.
The day of the honey bee was initiated several years ago by a backyard beekeeper in Saskatoon, who recognized how urgent it was to generate public awareness about the world wide crisis facing honey bees. Chief among the threats they face is from pesticides.
- Submitted
