In Canada, beekeepers face challenges due to the cold climate, as evidenced by a 2025 report indicating that over 41% of honeybee colonies in Alberta failed during that winter. To address this issue, Beekeeping Innovations Ltd., based in the Calgary area, has introduced an innovative solution known as the Bee Cube. This climate-controlled apiary in Okotoks is designed to provide a comfortable environment for multiple honeybee colonies to thrive through the winter.
Herman Van Reekum, the company’s founder and CEO, highlighted that the primary objective of the Bee Cube is to facilitate the production of queens in a safe and cost-effective manner. By generating queens locally, the company aims to reduce the reliance on imported queen bees, which are typically sourced from warmer regions like Australia, New Zealand, California, and Hawaii. Imported bees not only struggle to adapt to the Canadian environment but also pose the risk of introducing harmful pests such as varroa mites, which have had devastating effects on honeybee populations globally.
Van Reekum emphasized the importance of establishing a domestic source of queens to mitigate the risks associated with introducing foreign bees. By breeding local queens, beekeepers can potentially lower mite infection rates and cultivate bees with genetic traits that enhance their ability to survive harsh Canadian winters.
The process of queen bee production involves selecting larvae and feeding them royal jelly to trigger their development into queens. Each hive typically has one queen bee responsible for laying eggs and sustaining the colony. To create more queens, beekeepers transfer queen cells from one hive to a queenless colony, where the larvae develop into queens over a two-week period. The emergence of multiple queens necessitates careful monitoring to prevent conflicts within the hive.
Van Reekum highlighted the significance of queens that have successfully survived Canadian winters in passing on resilient genes to future generations. The company aims to significantly increase queen production, with a target of 5,000 queens for the current year.
Alberta stands out as Canada’s largest honey producer, housing nearly 40% of the country’s bee colonies. The province plays a pivotal role in the national honey industry, which was valued at $241 million in 2025. Besides honey production, Canadian beekeeping contributes significantly to agriculture through pollination services, supporting various crops essential for human consumption.
The importance of bees in pollinating crops was underscored by Van Reekum, who highlighted that 33% of the food we consume relies on bees for pollination. Without honeybees, essential crops like canola, orchards, and blueberries would not thrive, emphasizing the critical role of bees in agricultural ecosystems.