I don't have SHB but I have a friend who does and he deals with them very well-I doubt VSH queens are anymore or less effective in dealing with SHB. He says the trick is to not have much unoccupied space in the hive. He tells me that if you keep the hive strong, the main problem with SHB is when you extract and store supers (without the protection of many bees) too long. The practical application is to not give a building hive too much space. I'd suggest that you reduce the space with a division board or put them in a nuc and don't put them in 10-frame boxes till they are nearly busting at the seams--a balancing act to keep them from swarming. He tells me that SHB have actually made him a better beekeeper and he's been at the game for over 40 years. He's the best beekeeper I know.
I'm a lucky duck because ND isn't good to SHB and apparently neither is winter/spring in CA. I saw 1 hive beetle this year when I was splitting and the state found 1 last year during health inspections. My friend also tells me that SHB prefer wet comb so he lets his bees rob out his extraction comb so he can store it dry. I do the same and our winter temperatures often dip to -30 F so not much can tolerate our winters. Plus we bury our water lines 8 feet down and, every once in a good while, a water line will freeze in areas that lack a grass insulation cover! I think CA is generally drier than SHB prefer but there are some out there, likely augmented by all the out-of-state bees imported there to pollinate almonds. Good luck, they are nasty buggers.
