# Queens from Hawaii into Canada, no more?



## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Hawaii now has varroa and the small hive beatle. The way the regulations now sit, Canada cannot accept queens from Hawaii because of the small hive beatle. My supplier, Olivarez is not so keen on trying to send more on account of the situation is completely out of their hands. The CFIA has to amend their regulations to allow queens from Hawaii. I suppose their will be some sort of protocol that the Hawaii suppliers will have to meet. The bureaucracy can at times be very slow or can adjust fairly rapidly(I'm thinking about the varroa find last april on the Big Island of Hawaii). I'm not really sure what's going on now, and who's talking to whom or what if any progress has been made. I for one liked the queens from Hawaii. They allowed me to start making increases in late march early april for delivery of nucs to my buyers in early may. Now the supply of queens is threatened. Grumble. I was one buyer of the 80 000 or so queens that Hawaii supplied to Canada. This could severely impact the way we do things if we don't get those early queens. More grumble.

What say you other canadian beekeepers?

P.S.- American and other nationalities are welcome to comment.

Jean-Marc


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

If you are going to be infested with SHB, it's not going to be because of SHB being transported in queen cages. If they are able to live in your climate they'll just fly in from down south of the border. Better hire a bunch more border guards and develop an SHB detector/neutralizer/laser/taser/phaser weapon. That's like guys on this forum worrying about SHB being shipped in packages to the northern states. Studies have shown they fly about 5 miles per day, sometimes 10 miles per day. They don't need transportation! According to reports here they've been found in WI, MN, MI, NY, VT and probably others as well. You're next!!


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## Matt Beekman (Dec 15, 2007)

more government regulation = less economic growth


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

hmmmp, not sure what to think. I like the oliverz queens. not to keen on the SHB


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## MARBIS (Jun 10, 2010)

As much as I would like that Fish Sticks is wrong, it looks like he is not
SHB have been identified this year in Ontario, 2008 & 2009 in Quebec, 2006 in Manitoba...
Personally prefer local northern queens, but don't believe that danger of SHB will increase with imported Hawaiian queens.


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## azeryth (Oct 23, 2010)

from what we are told by a research facility here in the Philippines, they said that Hawaii (and Australia, also i think), has placed themselves in quarantine. One of the researchers said that they reported an infestation with small hive beetle (not sure with varroa) among the last batch that they imported from Hawaii. When they checked and found out that there was indeed an infestation, the self-imposed quarantine took place.

Now, we can't order queens from the facility because they can't import from Hawaii, and they don't import from any other countries. All the queens that are available here now are locally bred from old stocks.


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

MARBIS said:


> As much as I would like that Fish Sticks is wrong, it looks like he is not
> 2006 in Manitoba...


2006 in Manitoba, from my understanding they came in with either a load of packages or pollen....do not remember.

They were all sent to an area before it was know the product was SHB infested. They, the beetles reeked havoc with the hives and the beekeepers. Thankfully they did not survive the winter.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I bet they provide a permit. Many beekeepers here like thier KONA queens. Teh CFIA will get an ear full. 

Otherwise, who will fill the queen shortfall? California? not likely


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## MARBIS (Jun 10, 2010)

honeyshack said:


> Thankfully they did not survive the winter.


It would be nice if our climate is too harsh for them, but I'm afraid of their ability to adapt.


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## mnbeekeeper (Jun 30, 2010)

i think it doesnt matter what climate the beetle is in as long as you have a strong bee hive for them to stay warm in. sorry canada


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

mnbeekeeper; strong hives mean squat to SHB. The bees don't kill SHB they only chase them around a little. Once a female gets into a cell the bees can do nothing about it, so she's free to lay eggs. It doesn't take very many egg layers, and only a few days, to turn your hive into a stinking, slimy mess, with thousands of larva crawling through the combs and piled up on the bottom board. The bees leave when the honey starts fermenting. Nothing wrong with keeping strong hives but if you get invaded by SHB you need to be looking at ways to control them other than trying to let bees do what they're incapable of doing. Hopefully, you'll never see the levels of infestation we have in FL. I just helped with a load of bees trucked down from MN last week. We moved them into the yards last Thursday evening and Monday morning the owner started going through them. SHB already there! Strong hives, weak hives; they don't discriminate!


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## dgl1948 (Oct 5, 2005)

It is my understanding that part of the SHB life cycle is spent in the ground. When you have the ground frozen for 5 to 6 months they do not survive. You could have an infestation in a year that packages were introduced but that should not carry over.

We have been using queens from Chile for the last two years and are very pleased with them. We use them for our early splits and then use our own queens later in the year.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

fish_stix said:


> mnbeekeeper; strong hives mean squat to SHB.


Yo Fish....go back and reread his post....he was agreeing with you.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

dgl1948 said:


> When you have the ground frozen for 5 to 6 months they do not survive. You could have an infestation in a year that packages were introduced but that should


This is half of the equation. The beetles overwinter in the bee cluster. It's an issue of endurance. The question is how long can they survive. In my case, in GA, some of my hives go into cold weather with hundreds of beetles. By April I can only find a handful. So a Candadian winter is a doublewhammy on them. The very few that survive your winter only have a very short reproductive period....waaaayyy too short for them to build up enough to be a problem.
The folks in Fl and South GA are on the other side of this spectrum. Over their short duration winter many of the beetles survive and then they have an extended reproductive period. The beetle populations stay high year round.
Here in North GA, if my hives are in full sun, have good bee populations, then beetles aren't a problem. Put those same hives in the shade and it's a different story.
Long and short of it.....I can't imagine small hive beetles ever becoming a chronic problem in Canada.


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

beemandan; You're right! I did misread MNbeekeeper's post.:doh: I apologize to MNbeekeeper. I suspect early onset Alzheimers exacerbated by SHB and AHB pheremones. And I also agree with your post. I hope the guys up there on the tundra only have a transient summer problem, if they even get a problem.


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## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

I have had shb for about 8 yrs. No problems until this year insome mating nucs, but we had a very hot/humid summer. When I move bees to Wi I have few beetles. They are a tropical pest, will not build up much in canada as summer is cooler and short. A few may survive thru winter but I dont think anyone would eve rhave a problem.


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

The issue Sutton, is not a biological one. It is political. The fear mongers will claim biological problems. The cost to the industry of not having those Hawaiin queens is probably way higher that the cost associated with having to deal with SHB.

Jean-Marc


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## irwin harlton (Jan 7, 2005)

yes, its all political, and the policy of imported queens,seems varroa was ok with certain restrictions or rules, add the SHB and that changes the whole picture.(according to the powers that be)Certain parties will no doubt enter further into the industry and its import rules .It's also about some bureaucrat covering his butt ,.I wonder if NAFTA applies here


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## MARBIS (Jun 10, 2010)

Ian said:


> I bet they provide a permit. Many beekeepers here like thier KONA queens. Teh CFIA will get an ear full.
> 
> Otherwise, who will fill the queen shortfall? California? not likely


Somebody from New Zealand must be really happy with CFIA


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I doubt beekeepers who stopped buying from OZ will start again.
Many not happy with their performance


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