Honey bee queen quality is an often overlooked dimension of colony health. In this episode we catch up with Dr. Shelley Hoover who is the Apiculture Researcher with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. She tells us about work to assess different commercial queen stocks and to fit queen production into crop pollination. Dr. Hoover is the Apiculture Unit Lead for the Alberta Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. She is the current President of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists and is a Past President of the Entomological Society of Alberta. Her current research focuses on honey bee health, breeding, management, pest management, and nutrition, as well as canola pollination. In addition, she has conducted research on other managed bees including bumble bees and leafcutter bees. Dr. Hoover completed her PhD on honey bee worker ovary development, nutrition, and behaviour at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. Prior to her current position, she was a Research Scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, a Research Associate with the University of British Columbia and the AAFC Beaverlodge Research Farm, and an NSERC postdoctoral fellow at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

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Links Mentioned:

Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturalists
Shelley’s book pick: Honey Bee Diseases and Pest Manual (3rd Edition, Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturalists)
Shelley’s go-to-tool: Queen rearing wheel, calf sled colony mover, hive lifter, Paul Kelly’s hive tool holder
Shelley’s favorite bee: Honey bee queen and drones (or workers that aspire to be queens)