Beekeeper Participation Needed

We need your samples for our research! We are looking for beekeepers in British Columbia to send in samples from their hives such as frames, bees, mites, and honey. Check out our projects to help assist in our efforts!

AFB Spore Surveillance Across BC  

Funded by Pollinator Partnership Canada & The Storehouse Foundation

For Beekeepers of the Kootenay, Cariboo, Omineca-Skeena, Thompson-Nicola and Peace regions

Project description

American foulbrood (AFB), caused by (Paenibacillus larvae,) is a devastating and reportable bacterial disease that targetshoney bee larvae. It is difficult to control and often requires the destruction of the hive as a management strategy. With support from Pollinator Partnership, the BC-TTP is grateful for the opportunity to evaluate the distribution of P. larvae spores across British Columbia using pooled, extracted honey samples. 

This year, the BC Tech Transfer Program is continuing the AFB Surveillance Project in British Columbia using pooled (blended) extracted honey. We are still missing samples from the Kootenay, Cariboo, Omineca-Skeena, Thompson-Nicola and Peace regions, so we’d like to kindly request your help in providing some extracted honey samples from fellow beekeepers in your region. These samples will help us establish a risk assessment threshold at an apiary level for subsequent seasons in the respective apiaries or operations. 

Our first year (2025) generated a good dataset across at least four regions of BC, which will ultimately help beekeepers stay a step ahead of any potential AFB outbreak. 

Please note that results will be shared individually and confidentially with the relevant beekeeper via email.

When samples are needed

Ideally, we would like to receive samples by the mid of September. It would be great to have 1 to 2 samples per apiary or even the same sample size from multiple apiaries of a whole beekeeping operation. If some colleagues from your region has already harvested honey and they want to participate and know the AFB spores in their apiaries they can also provide that honey as testing sample. 

What is needed from volunteers

Please fill a clean jar or container (glass or plastic) with a minimum of 100 to a maximum of 500 g honey for each sample, directly from the honey extractor or barrel. Beekeeper may choose to provide honey at the start, middle, and end of your extraction process—whichever approach works best for your setup.

Please note:

The AFB spore count from the honey sample will represent the entire apiary/apiaries from which the honey sample was extracted.

Label each sample jar clearly with the following information:

  1. Beekeeper name

  2. Beekeeping operation name (if applicable)

  3. Extraction date

  4. Hive location (apiary/yard)

  5. Email ID 

  6. Phone number (optional)

Please ship the samples to the following address: 

Muhammad Fahim Raza

36051 Spyglass Court
Abbotsford, BC V3G 2W7
Tel: 639-384-7929
Email: fahimraza@ttp-bchpa.ca

What the beekeeper will get in return

Shipping costs will be refunded!

For shipment reimbursement, kindly email us a photo of your receipt along with your e-transfer details or other payment method.

Once your samples have been analyzed, we will confidentially follow up with the AFB spore distribution results with relevant beekeepers.

Participating beekeepers will get confidential information about the status of their apiary in regard to AFB spore loads and the joy of participating in the first BC study on the status of AFB prevalence using honey samples!