Bulletin - Update on Small Hive Beetle
November 4, 2017
Attention Ontario Beekeepers
The OBA’s Small Hive Beetle (SHB) Working Group has been meeting over the summer and fall and issues this update to keep Ontario beekeepers informed. Keep in mind that the situation is evolving as we locate new finds of small hive beetle. We will update you as appropriate, including at the upcoming OBA Conference.
This year, inspectors reported 20 new finds in Ontario mostly, but not all, in the Niagara region. There were 11 new finds in New Brunswick. Small hive beetle has also been found in Alberta and BC.
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Ontario beekeepers have almost seven years of experience with small hive beetle since the first finds were discovered in Windsor-Essex. Given Ontario’s northern climate, small hive beetle likely has just one reproductive cycle per season, making this pest much more manageable than in warm, moist climates, like Florida, where it thrives. While no beekeeper needs or wants another pest, Ontario beekeepers’ experience shows that the impact of small hive beetle on a beekeeping operation can be managed and in most cases small hive beetle causes far less damage than wax moth.
