US Bee Imports

[Ian]

This is a real hot topic here in Canada. To open the boarder to package bees or not.

Well, Im going to state my opinion on the whole issue right here,

The beekeeping industry in Canada has to figure something out! We can not manage our bees like this anymore. Chemical treatments spring, leading to chemical treatments in fall, leading to more chemical treatments the following year!

Alternative treatments and management practices help delay treatments, but they are all weather dependant. If you know anything about the Canadian Prairies, We can trust the weather about as much as we can trust our politicians!

What "I" think has to happen is a resumed Canada/ US trade in package bees. The way I see it, we need those imports.

And I would then practice more of a kill off in fall, buy in spring type of beekeeping management.
I wouldn't shift completely, but would then use the US packages to lean on in the spring. I would sift and consolidate all my fall hives, killing off the sick and dieing, keeping the strong and populous, winter them as I now do. I would take all the remaining equipment, scrape and clean during the winter, and ready them for re population in the spring.

One factor I don't know is the cost of the US package, if trade resumes. That cost will depend alot on if the US bee industry will consider a shift towards Canadian beekeepers again, away from the Almond fields. Another factor will be political. Open and free trade needs to take place in order to get a true value on packages available.

Just a few rambling thoughts,
not meant to start an arguement,

[honeyshack]

I will admit, I am undecided about this. However when the US pays 1/2 the price for a package than we do...or even cheaper nuc packages, it makes me wonder. I would be scared of the SHB though...no doubt about that.
As for the sick and dying....I do not winter them at all. I have learned any hive that has a maybe or a hem and haw type of chance at survival for the winter will get combined or shook out and let them find a new home. I start judging the hives in the beginning of August, and start combining about the middle of August and even now.
I have learned it is just too costly to winter a weak hive.
the hives i combined last week look alot better today when I started treating

[Countryboy]

They closed the border to prevent you guys from getting all those nasty pests that you are using the chemical treatments on. They closed the barn door after all the horses were out.

Personally, my gut feeling is that you are going to start seeing more smuggled bees like they smuggled queens before the politicians come to their senses.

I also think more Canadian beekeepers are going to start splitting colonies in late summer and overwintering nucs.

[honeyshack]

Canadian Prairies, wintering nucs is a hard thing to do...costly to set up. and the success is not the greatest when wintering outdoors

[Countryboy]

However when the US pays 1/2 the price for a package than we do...or even cheaper nuc packages, it makes me wonder.

Package suppliers are having a hard time supplying US demand. If the border opens with Canada....demand will spike even more and everyone will be paying the price Canada pays for packages now.

I would be scared of the SHB though...no doubt about that.

I think your biggest concern with SHB is if you pull your honey and let it sit in the honey house for a week or two before you extract it. If you get SHB, this is where you will likely notice it. You will have a frame with brood in it, it will sit for a week or two, and you will end up with a mess of SHB maggots.

If you had a small patch of brood in a super that got extracted, and that stack of wet supers sits around for a week or two before it gets back out to a yard, you may find a pile of SHB maggots on the drip pallet too.

When we pop a lid, sometimes we see a few SHB. Now that it is later in the season, we're seeing more in the hives. You might see 10 or 15 on the inner cover. They don't seem to impact hives in yards. We do see the larvae if stuff sits around too long.

Since you're even farther north, I suspect SHB should be even less of a problem for you than it is for us. And for us, it's a very minor pest. More damage is done with frames that get broken during extraction.

[The Honey Householder]

After last year package shortage I would have to ask who are you going to get to produce enough packages for Canada too.

[beemandan]

I would be scared of the SHB though...no doubt about that.

SHB aren’t going to be an issue in Canada. The soil just doesn’t stay warm long enough for them to reproduce successfully.

After last year package shortage I would have to ask who are you going to get to produce enough packages for Canada too.

There was one S GA package producer, that I’m aware of, who never had a problem. He sends many of his hives to almonds and gets them back LOADED with bees. If the Canadian border were opened to packages I’m pretty sure his model would be copied across the south.

[Beeslave]

If there was a much higher demand for package bees I'm sure there are a few larger operators that could fill in the gaps.

[Keith Jarrett]

I'm sure there are a few larger operators that could fill in the gaps.

Thank-you , BeeSlave

[hpm08161947]

This is a real hot topic here in Canada. To open the boarder to package bees or not.

Well, Im going to state my opinion on the whole issue right here,

Ian,
If we were to forget about SHB issues - which I think is a non- issue (no way SHB could survive up there) - what are the current reasons for not allowing "Free Trade"? Are there valid biological reasons, or is it Political? If it is political, I wonder what the reasoning is.

Herb

[123456]

They won't open the border here (Ontario). Our association along with the 'bee girls' have devoted all their effortS to building a domestic industry that supplies $30 early June queens and $140-160 nucs to a captive audience.

[hpm08161947]

They won't open the border here (Ontario). Our association along with the 'bee girls' have devoted all their effortS to building a domestic industry that supplies $30 early June queens and $140-160 nucs to a captive audience.

So its an economic thing.... kinda like our Pharmaceutics industry. I suppose someone has some serious political clout in order to keep the border closed and impose those kind of prices on Canadian Beekeepers.

[Matt Beekman]

I am happy to see people talking about Canadian beekeeping on Beesource. I went to the Alberta convention on a whim three years ago and left pretty impressed with all the Canadian beekeepers I got to meet. I'll never forget drinking beers with one Canadian beekeeper in his honey house drooling over his set up that could extract 70 barrels a day.

The bottom line is that there is a surplus of bulk bees in California after almonds; but unfortunately there is a lack of queens to match up with those bulk bees to make packages. I would like to know from the Canadian beekeepers if they think there would be the potential for bulk bees (queenless packages) that could be used for boosting weak hives or matching up with queens in Canada from Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia or Chile. If so, why not let Canadian beekeepers come down to California in late March early April shake tell their hearts are content and go home.

With continued pressure to supply strong hives for almonds more beekeepers are going to need an outlet for extra bees in spring. Just some thoughts.

[irwin harlton]

The same people who closed the border in 1986 are going to keep it closed. They, being the powers that be , want no more pests now or in the future and see the present situation as better than importing US packages.Successful wintering has proven to be costly but not unprofitable with larger crops obtained to offset the high cost .The big problem occurs when losses of over 20 - 30% happen, or higher losses which eliminate honey production in that year, unless expensive packages or splits or overwintered colonies are bought.There is a limited supply of imported packages and bees for sale in Canada.Some in the industry like that situation and do not want it to change......they are a part of the powers that be

[jean-marc]

Keep in mind hpm that only 3000 nucs or so are produced and sold in Ontario on a yearly basis. Not sure why. If suppliers can't produce more or if buyers just don't want more. I think it's small commercial beekeepers selling to hobbyists. All and all a very small market. Not sure how many NZ or Oz packages are imported there.

Jean-Marc

[Pugs]

How do swarms know where the border is and why would they not fly over it? Doesn't make much sense to me.

Pugs

[jmgi]

Pugs, I guess there are some things they can't control, and then there are the things they can control, keeping the borders closed to the importing of U.S. bees is one of them. They are slowing down the inevitable, that's all. John

[Ian]

>>As for the sick and dying....I do not winter them at all

yA, I dont winter sick and dying either, or at least I try not to. What I meant was killing off hives that varroa would naturally kill off. Naturally kill off because of no treatments being used.
YOu see, I would kill off hives over threashold, and keep hives below threasholds. No treatments needed, but lots of replacements required.
Or go completely to the kill off management practice, no treatments except dusting for AFB when hives are brooding. Take all the honey I can gather, then kill them off, and ready the equipment for next spring. No cost of feeding, medications, wintering, and less time involved in fall.

[Ian]

>>Are there valid biological reasons, or is it Political? If it is political, I wonder what the reasoning is.

Herb ,

Im not in the inner circle of our beekeeping industry,
on the face of it, they state biological. And for good reason. I look down there and see a whole lot of crazy which we dont have up here. That might be a good enough reason to keep things status Quo, . I kinda believe we "might" not experience the same problems. We runa different management style of beekeeping as compared to the migratory that usually is run down there.

And for political,.? everything is political, isnt it?
The only time issues arent political is when your on the same side of the issue

[hpm08161947]

Im not in the inner circle of our beekeeping industry,
on the face of it, they state biological. And for good reason. I look down there and see a whole lot of crazy which we dont have up here. That might be a good enough reason to keep things status Quo, . I kinda believe we "might" not experience the same problems. We runa different management style of beekeeping as compared to the migratory that usually is run down there.

Ian - Nearly everything I read about Canadian Beekeeping interests me, even makes me envious. I mean you are probably preparing to put your bees away in nice big barn and take a long vacation, while I am still down here sweating in 90F bee yards. I am pretty sure if there was not a "Closed Border" that both sides would be better off, unless of course there is some big biological time bomb waiting to go off on Canadian soil. And I agree with you - everything is political, but what biological things are the powers that bee worried about... mites, SHB, AHB,... some strange virus?

Well Ian... have a nice vacation... oh yea - I forget - you do have to go take care of those pretty cows!