Honey Bee Producer Guide to the National Bee Farm-level Biosecurity Standard
Glossary

The following defines the general terms used throughout this Producer Guide.

Apiary

The location and sum total of colonies, hives, and other equipment assembled at one site for beekeeping operations.

Bee equipment:

Any structure, material, or enclosure and its related components that are provided by the beekeeper to protect and house bees, referred to as the (bee) hive. Includes the box or hive body, hive cover(s), bottom boards, and the brood chamber frames, and honey super frames that are contained within the box. Hive equipment may also include the queen excluder, bee escape board, foundation, and feeders.

Beekeeper

A generic term used to identify anyone who owns or is in possession of bees; utilizes pollination services; handles bees, related bee equipment, production inputs and outputs, as well as waste material. The person may be the owner/operator, a trained beekeeper, staff, or family member.

Bee industry authority

A provincial apiarist, bee inspector, veterinarian, or regulating authority, including the CFIA or Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA).

Bee operation

All aspects of the beekeeping, bee-product production, and pollination operations for which the beekeeper is responsible, regardless of where the bees are placed; comparable to the farm in other types of agriculture.

Bee yard

See apiary

Biological control

Means of controlling a pest with another organism; for example through predation, parasitism, or with a pathogen.

Biosecurity

Farm-level biosecurity refers to a set of practices used to minimize the transmission of pests in animal and plant populations, including their introduction (bioexclusion), spread within the populations (biomanagement), and release (biocontainment).

Biosecurity program

A risk-reduction program that conforms to CFIA national standards and is designed to prevent the introduction and spread of pests in bee operations.

Biosecurity risk

An activity, condition, or situation that, without mitigation, increases the risk of potential introduction or spread of a hazard in the form of a pathogen, parasite, or insect pest.

Biosecurity standard

A high-level consistent set of principles and target outcomes that apply to all beekeepers (honey, leafcutting, and bumblebees) at the farm level. The goal of the Standard is to minimize the introduction and spread of pests onto a farm, within a farm, and beyond the farm.

Brood

For the purposes of this document, brood refers to the embryo or egg, and the larval and pupal stages in initial honey bee development.

Building

Any indoor facility used in the beekeeping operation, including storage, maintenance, over-wintering bees, and processing honey or other bee products.

Chemical control

Means of controlling a pest, using chemical-based control products, including acids, acaricides (miticides), pharmaceutical treatments, and disinfectants. Chemical-control programs encompass applicable treatment rotation plans and the timing of treatment applications.

Clean

Free of any visible accumulation of organic matter and debris or other residues. Also, refer to disinfection and sanitation.

Colony

Typically an aggregate of several thousand worker bees, drones, and a queen bee living together in a hive or in any other dwelling as one social unit. Also, refer to Nucleus Colony.

Contaminated

The presence of a pathogen, living parasite, or insect pest on a surface or in debris that may be transmitted directly or indirectly to a living host organism (that is to say bee or brood).

Cultural method

A non-chemical method for managing pests. Examples include hive equipment manipulation, introducing new bee stock, supplemental feeding, and sanitation.

Debris

Any loose material that may be CAPA ble of harbouring pathogens, parasites, or pests. Examples include dead bees and bee parts, feces, and dead parasites.

Disease

An unhealthy condition in the bee caused, for example, by a biological agent such as bacteria, a viral or fungal pathogen or parasite that may result in death.

Disinfection

Applying a physical or chemical process to a surface to destroy or inhibit the activity of micro-organisms. This is often done with a disinfecting agent, such as bleach, or by treatments including heat, irradiation, or fumigation in conjunction with cleaning.

Efficacy

The effectiveness of an intervention or treatment in suppressing or eliminating a pest.

Elevated response plan

A farm-level intervention plan that is triggered by the suspected or confirmed presence of a high-risk, exotic, or unfamiliar pest within the bee operation, local area, or country.

Endemic

Pests that are regularly re-occurring or whose causative agent is established within a region or population.

Exotic

Infectious pests that normally do not occur in the region, either because they have never been present there or because they were eradicated and then kept out by government control measures or agricultural practices.

Farm/farm level

Refer to bee operation.

Federally reportable and notifiable

A legal requirement to contact the CFIA if a specified reportable bee disease, caused by a pathogen, parasite, or insect pest, is suspected or if the diagnosis is confirmed. Only laboratories are required to contact the CFIA regarding specified notifiable diseases. Refer to the Terrestrial animal diseases page for more information.

Hive

Human-constructed housing for bees. Also, refer to bee equipment.

Honey house

A building typically used for extracting honey, packaging honey, and storing supers.

Infected

A living host organism (i.e. bee or brood), that is affected by a pathogen.

Infested

The presence of a living parasite or insect pest, at any stage of its life cycle, on or in a living host organism (that is to say bee or brood) or its hive.

Insect pest

Insect pests are predators that infest a hive, cause damage, and consume brood and food stores, resulting in economic loss. Primary insect pests of bees live part of their life cycle within the hive and can be spread with the movement of bees and equipment. Examples are small hive beetle and wax moths that infest honey bee colonies. See also nuisance pest.

Inspector

A person who inspects apiaries and bee shipments for compliance with regulations or insurance claims and who may offer advice or provide resources to beekeepers.

Integrated pest management (IPM)

A management system for pests that uses all suitable techniques, in the context of the associated environment and population dynamics of the pest, to maintain pest populations at levels below those causing economic injury.

Managed bees

For the purposes of the Standard, managed bees include honey bees, alfalfa leafcutting bees, and bumblebees for which some form of artificial housing is provided (that is to say hive). Unmanaged native and wild bees are excluded.

Mechanical method

A non-chemical method for managing pests. Examples include barriers, traps, screens, fences, use of hive or nest stands, and removal of foreign material from surfaces using a brush, broom, hand, or other object.

Nucleus colony

Also referred to as a nuc or nuclei colony. A small colony of bees often used in queen rearing, mating, or to increase colony numbers.

Nuisance pest

A nuisance pest may disturb the bees; cause distress; damage the hive; consume bees, brood and bee cells; rob food stores; spread pathogens and parasites, and result in weakened bees that are more susceptible to other bee pests. Nuisance pests include insects such as ants and wasps, rodents, racoons, skunks, and large mammals such as bears, as well as some birds, and pets. Also, refer to Pest.

Parasite

An organism that lives upon or within another living organism and may be dependent upon the host for its survival; for example, the Varroa destructor mite.

Pathogen

A biological agent, such as a bacteria (for example, American foulbrood [ AFB ], European foulbrood [ EFB ]), virus (for example, sacbrood), or fungus (Nosema, chalkbrood) that has the potential to cause bee disease; for example, through the spread of spores.

Permit

Applies to bees, bee equipment, bee products, and production inputs for which their importation, inter-provincial movement, purchase and/or use is regulated by the government and is permitted.

Personal equipment

Includes items that are considered an extension of the beekeeper's person and may come in contact with infected or infested bees, debris, feed, water, or hive equipment. Examples include the smoker, hive tool, grafting tool, brushes, gloves, veil, helmet, and coveralls.

Pest

A pest is an unwanted organism. A pest may be a parasite, disease pathogen, predator, or insect pest. Pest, used as a generic term in this document, refers to any of these living organisms.

Physical method

A non-chemical method for managing pests (for example, freezing and heating).

Premises

A parcel of land with a continuous property boundary and defined by a legal land description or, in its absence, by geo-referenced coordinates. Premises include an indoor facility or outdoor location where the following are kept or used: bees, hive, and personal equipment, beekeeping supplies, bee products, moving, and handling and processing equipment.

Producer guidance

Voluntary guidelines and examples of beneficial management practices, directed to producers for implementing biosecurity measures as defined by the National Standard at the farm level. Guidelines are specific to the industry sub sector (in this case, honey bees).

Production input

Production inputs include consumable products such as feed, water, treatment products for pest management or control, products used for cleaning and disinfection, and some materials used in hives. Production inputs exclude live bees and reusable hive equipment, tools, and protective clothing.

Protocols

A code of conduct, defined procedure, or series of steps to follow when implementing biosecurity management practices.

Provincial apiarist (PA) or apiculturist

Provincial government employees who study, educate, and administer regulation in the field of apiculture. Typically responsible for enforcing the Apiary Act, Bee Act, or equivalent. The PA is typically also an inspector.

Quarantine

A specific order applied to a particular premises, bees, or equipment by the honey bee regulating authority to prevent further spread or to detect a biosecurity risk or concern.

Quarantine area

An area specified by the honey bee regulating authority, in which additional efforts are made by industry and/or government to prevent further spread or detect the biosecurity risk of concern.

Recommended

A product, treatment, or practice recommended by a bee industry authority. When used in reference to chemicals such as pesticides or pharmaceuticals, the term means products registered by the appropriate regulatory authority for the specific usage mentioned in the text.

Sanitation

A set of practices that reduce the presence of organic material or debris and the presence, survivability, and infectivity of disease-causing agents from an object or surface. Forms of sanitation include physical or mechanical removal and (power) washing and may be done in conjunction with disinfection.

Target outcomes

Goals that all those who manage bees, regardless of the size of their operation, should try to attain to protect their bees from introducing and spreading pests.

Threshold

A measurable level of a factor that contributes to bee health, including a level of infection or infestation at which intervention should be taken to limit negative impact on bee health and cause economic loss.

Weed

Any unwanted vegetation, including cultivated and volunteer crops, growing in and around the apiary or buildings where bees are kept.

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