Eligibility requirements are set to ensure that hives meet minimum health standards, to ensure colony health and survivability. Mite levels, strong colonies in the fall, and overwintering of hives are key to ensuring colony health and survivability during the winter months. For full details, read the
Commodity-Specific Terms: Bee Health. If you have any questions, please
contact us. We're here to help.
To be eligible for bee health coverage:
- Register all of your beeyard locations under the
Bees Act with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) annually. For more information, call 1-877-424-1300.
- Have a minimum of 50 colonies that overwinter in Ontario.
- Insure all of your eligible colonies.
- Meet all deadlines and follow the eligibility requirements for your colonies and hives listed in the
Commodity-Specific Terms: Bee Health.
- Meet the minimum standard for eligible frames.
- Follow good colony management practices.
Insurable colonies
To be eligible for bee health coverage, colonies must meet the following criteria:
- Hive structures must, at a minimum, consist of a standard Langstroth beehive with movable frames, with at least one full-depth brood chamber
- Colony must be queenright
- An eligible frame is a frame with at least 2/3 of the cells on each side filled with brood and/or eggs and/or live bees
- Minimum number of eligible frames per hive by type of brood chamber:
Brood
chamber |
Minimum number
of eligible frames |
|---|
| Single | 7 |
| Double or triple | 12 |
Maintaining your coverage
To ensure that you're always covered:
- If you notice damaged or lost colonies at any time, contact Agricorp immediately.
- Notify Agricorp at least 5 business days before you unwrap or open hives that have been overwintered outdoors, or before you remove hives from indoor storage.
- Contact Agricorp
before you move or clean up dead colonies.
- Contact Agricorp if your business structure changes, including name, address, shareholders or management practice changes.
- Report your colony inventory as requested by Agricorp in the spring.
- Continue to meet all other eligibility criteria.
Opening hives
Your bee health coverage begins on
November 1, 2022 and ends either on
May 15, 2023 or when you:
- Open or unwrap your hives that have been overwintered outdoors.
- Move your hives that have been overwintered indoors outside.
Hives may be opened to feed your bees. This does not end your coverage.
For your continued eligibility, you must contact Agricorp 5 days prior to opening your hives in case an adjuster needs to be present to assess your hives and check for any damage.
Good colony management resource list
Good colony management practices are approved methods or techniques for managing your colonies. The following is a list of resources that you can use to find more information about good colony management practices:
- Commodity-Specific Terms: Bee Health
- OMAFRA's Best Management Practices (BMP) for Ontario Beekeepers in Advance of Winter
- The OMAFRA apiary program
- The Ontario Beekeepers' Association Technology Transfer program
- The University of Guelph Townsend House Honey Bee Research Centre
- Federal and provincial extension staff, technical consultants, industry representatives, and local agri-business personnel
