Beekeeping in the Outaouais region in figures

Did you know that in the Outaouais region, MAPAQ counts 7 agricultural businesses whose main source of income is beekeeping? These beekeepers are spread across the entire territory, and represent a total of 420 declared hives.

Average honey production per colony in Quebec was 29.8 kg in 2022. A colony is a society made up of a single queen, numerous workers, drones and eggs, larvae or pupae. The size of the colony varies according to the season. In summer, the colony comprises 30 to 60,000 bees, the queen and a few hundred drones; in winter, the queen is surrounded by just 3 to 5,000 bees.

Three sources of income are possible in beekeeping. There is the sale of honey, the rental of colonies and the sale of products other than honey. In 2022, in order to help with a lack of native pollinators, blueberry and cranberry crops used 94.1% of the 43,119 colonies rented. In the same year, the total value of beekeeping in Quebec was $23.2 million.

Understanding the enemy!

There are many enemies of beehives. They can be as big as a bear or as small as a mite, not to mention climatic conditions. Winter mortality of bee colonies in Quebec varies greatly from year to year. It is generally above 15%, but in 2022 it peaked at 49% in Quebec, compared with 45.5% for Canada as a whole. Manitoba had the highest percentage of winter mortality, at 57.2%. Mortality was attributable to varroa mites, unfavorable weather conditions and weak colonies in the fall.

Worth knowing…

Whether you’re a hobbyist with a small number of hives or a large-scale beekeeping enterprise, annual registration of your hives with the Quebec government is mandatory, and the owner’s name and address must be affixed to the hive. This registration enables us to provide an accurate picture of production, to contact beekeepers quickly in the event of any sanitary problems, to conduct reliable sanitary inspections and to offer free beekeeping disease diagnosis services in MAPAQ laboratories.

What we eat depends on pollinators!

Bees are absolutely essential for the fertilization of flowers, certain plants, shrubs and fruit trees, and they also provide us with honey, pollen, wax, propolis and royal jelly. That’s why it’s so important to maintain biodiversity in our landscapes, and to keep our green spaces in both rural and urban areas in bloom.
Keeping dandelions on our lawns serves the needs of urban beekeeping, not rural beekeeping, since their hives are a good distance from our lawns. Urban beekeeping can certainly expand, but it must be sure to follow the various provincial and municipal regulations that govern it.

A few more facts about bees:

The queen bee lives from 1 to 5 years and lays up to 2,000 eggs a day.
The average bee lives 27 days in summer and 27 weeks in winter.
Bees have 2 stomachs, one for digestion and the other for storing nectar, which they bring back to the hive.
The bee weighs 0.1 g and can bring up to 70 mg of nectar and pollen back to the hive.
The bee flies at 30 km/h, with 200 wing beats per second.
The average foraging radius is 3 km.
One kilo of honey requires the visit of between 2 and 10 million flowers. To produce 1 kilo of wax, bees consume 10 kg of honey.

Article written by Linda Larocque, agronomist,

References:

L’abeille domestique, la solution pour la pollinisation, 2012, FAQ.
Enquête annuelle sur la mortalité hivernale des colonies d’abeilles au Québec en 2022, MAPAQ.
Portrait de l’apiculture au Québec en 2022, Mise à jour : 19 janvier 2024.
Rapport sur la mortalité hivernale de colonies d’abeilles mellifères au Canada (2022), Association canadienne des professionnels de l’apiculture (ACPA).