Why Brandon University is setting up beehives on campus
The Brandon University campus is abuzz.
The university is bringing a small number of urban beehives to the city of Brandon as part of a five-year pilot project called Bee-U, which launched last year.
In 2022, there were two hives on campus that produced 250 lbs of honey. This year they are splitting the hives to create four.
“We’ll see how much honey they produce. We’ll see how active the bees are throughout the city, but it’s going to be exciting to see how we can grow with this project,” said Deanna Smid, an associate professor at Brandon University, in an interview on Tuesday.
Over the course of the summer, the hives are set up, maintained and then removed. Once they are removed, the honey is harvested and the bees are returned to their apiary for the winter.
Smid said the project highlights the importance of bees and other pollinators. It also boosts food security in the city of Brandon, as some of the honey is donated to food security organizations.
“It’s easy to forget how important bees and other insects are, but when they’re in your backyard, almost literally, it’s harder to not have them at the forefront of your mind,” she said.
According to a report from the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, last year was a tough one for bees as there were major losses. Smid explained this does not just impact beekeepers, but has an effect on Manitoba’s agriculture.
“The losses in 2022 were catastrophic. Beekeepers lost close to 100 per cent of their bees,” Smid said, adding that it’s a bit too early to tell what the bee losses were like over the winter.
For those who want to help the bees in their own backyards, Smid’s suggestion is to do “nothing around your yard.”
“Allowing weeds, like dandelions, to grow is actually essential for honeybees and for native pollinators. It’s one of their first food sources in the spring,” she said.
For anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of the hives at Brandon University, they are located on the roof of the Knowles-Douglas Student Union Centre. The university also plans to install cameras to set up a hive-stream.
- With files from CTV’s Ainsley McPhail.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.