The buzz in the Grey Bruce Beekeeping community is not good this spring.
The winter die off of honey bee colonies in the region appears to have been higher than average this winter.
Carmenie Stemmler is with the Grey Bruce Beekeepers Association and says initial reports she is getting from area beekeepers are not good.
She says it appears the die off is around the 25 per cent mark for the winter for most producers.
Stemmler says the fluctuating temperatures put a lot of stress on the bees and that is one of the reasons many of them did not survive the winter.
The average die off for bee colonies in Grey Bruce in an average winter according to Stemmler is around 10 to 15 per cent.
Last year more than 35 per cent of the Ontario honey bee population died off during the winter months and from all indications that catastrophic loss is about to be repeated again this year again.
Allison Skinner is with the Ontario Beekeepers Association and says initial reports from across the province show that keepers are recording losses again in the 35 per cent range.
She says they wont know now bad the die off is until a beekeepers report in to the association with numbers concerning the health of their colonies.
Here in Grey Bruce, Stemmler says beekeepers now will have to reproduce more colonies to get the numbers back up high enough for honey production
