Boissevain beekeeper hoping to bounce back

A Boissevain-area beekeeper says conditions are improving.

Don Glover lost all of his 100 hives last fall because of the Varroa mite.

However, losing his bees last fall did allow him to regroup for this year.

"There were some big losses with big beekeepers too. It wasn't a good year. Last year for us here was about the best honey crop we've ever had and that was kind of the frustrating part because the best honey crop we ever had and you end up with your bees all dead."

He adds this spring was less than ideal for the new bees he had ordered last fall.

"It's been terrible, it's too cold. The dampness doesn't matter so much but there was a lot of cold days. That was a double whammy because the bees we had left, we had a tough, tough, time to get them going. This time of year, the bees are weaker than what they should be by this time of year but then the crops, they're just planting canola right now. We're maybe ok if we get some good weather, we could still pull off a pretty good crop."

Glover has been in the honey business for more than 30 years.