Alberta researcher pitches Australian-made beehives as new alternative for Canadian beekeepers

A master beekeeper in Alberta is putting an insulated hive to the test he says could help a struggling Canadian industry.

Sheldon Hill, who works as an educator three hours southeast of Calgary, says an Australian-made product could help change the beekeeping game.

“The sensor data is telling me that the bees are easily able to regulate the area inside their hive much more efficiently,” Hill told CBC News. 

He has found that the insulated hive results in a stronger buildup and increased honey production — but it could be a hard sell for an industry that often avoids such big changes. 

Hill was a commercial apiarist for three decades in Porcupine Plain, Sask., working for a family of generational beekeepers.

He recently left large-scale beekeeping behind to take on a new role as an educator and researcher with the Prairie Rose School Division in southeast Alberta.

Through a partnership with Medicine Hat College’s Centre for Innovation, Hill is running a year-long test comparing a HiveIQ setup next to a traditional wooden hive at a Neubauer Farms property about five minutes outside Medicine Hat.

His pilot project started in May during the spring buildup and continued into the all-important summer honey producing period.

While Hill cautioned that large-scale research will still be required, he said the hope is that beekeepers, often wary of silver bullets, will be open to the innovative potential of insulated hives.

“I'm really trying to change the minds of the industry because right now a lot of producers don't think much of this concept,” he said. 

For over a century beekeepers across the world have relied on a system of stackable wooden boxes known as the Langstroth hive. 

In 2011, third-generation beekeeper Victor Croker started developing an insulated solution made out of polystyrene to combat the Australian outback’s extreme heat.

Over a decade later, Croker’s HiveIQ is now being sold around the world — and tested in Alberta by Hill. 

While many Canadians may think of insulation as a way to keep something warm in the winter, HiveIQ wanted to keep bees cool with the same method.