Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Pests and Diseases => Topic started by: neillsayers on August 10, 2016, 09:50:49 pm
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I'm finding these VSH bees might not work out for me. They keep losing/killing their queen and then no luck raising a replacement. Of my two Hives I have one capped queen cell and dwindling population numbers Tomorrow I plan to do a combine and maybe they'll get it together to make it through winter.
Problem is, SHB has moved in with such low populations and has slimed some frames. I pulled the very worst out. If I give them the least affected frames will they be able to clean them up or should I just cull the wax?
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Following this with interest as it is something I no doubt will have to eventually deal with.
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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.
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Chip,
Thanks for taking the time with this and the good advice. :)
What you are saying is key. Strong hives with no unnecessary space. My other hives all have them but the bees keep them driven out. They are Russians. I wanted to try these bees but I've had queen troubles from day one with one hive and the other grew by leaps and bounds until it "decided" to go queenless. It made several cells but no queen came of it. Now its dwindling away.
The first hive I mentioned came to me queenless with a capped emergency cell. I contacted my supplier and he shipped me a replacement. By then the virgin had emerged and I pinched her. They accepted her long enough for her to lay one frame almost perfectly and then she vanished. They have a capped queen cell in there now so I plan on combining hives tomorrow, eventually working them all into one 8-frame deep, if they become queenright.
My question was should I scrap the drawn frames that are mildly affected and make them draw new or will they be able to renovate them?
Again thanks,
Neill
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This is my first year with hive loses to shb >:(. When a hive goes queenless and starts to dwindle the shb will take over very quickly. I have drawn comb on hand and have shook the bees off of slimmed frames into a 5 frame nuc on drawn comb and a frame of brood with eggs in it and place it where the shb hive was with good results. Then take the slimmed hive and frames with wiggly little larva in it on a concrete pad with the lid off, take a few frames out so the hot sunlight can get to the little devils. They don't last long :no:. I plan on cleaning the frames and hive bodies in lye water.
PS. just a side note, i've had two strong hives taken over by these little devils also??? I've never seen this many shb's before?
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... If I give them the least affected frames will they be able to clean them up or should I just cull the wax?
I've never seen any real damage to a strong hive by SHB, it is always in weak and failing hives, especially queenless bees.
I have had good luck in early stages of infestation using a garden hose to wash the slime off and placing the frame back in a strong hive. If I didn't catch the onslaught of larva in time, I'd freeze it, then rinse with garden hose after thawing for 30 minutes and give it to a large hive or set it out for robbing and see what happens. Keep in mind these tactics take extra time, something I have...
Why wait to combine Neil, those SHB larva are awake and feeding 24/7? :)
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Jack,
Best I can tell,they first showed up in central Arkansas about 3-4 years ago. We had several mild winters since. I'm actually hoping for a few hard winters like we had in the old days. That might knock them back!
Lee,
On my way out to do the combine in a few minutes. It's been really rainy and I was waiting on weather.
I have the worst frames on a huge flat rock for the chickens to pick 'em over. I'm also noticing that they seem to prefer foundation frames. It may be because they came to me infected with the nucs. All my other frames are foundationless.
Thanks guys for the advice.
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Lee,
Had a break in the weather so I made the combine. Was taking my time culling out slimed frames and looking for queen sign. The queen cell that was in there 2 days prior had emerged. Was just finishing up waiting for bees to settle down when a biblical deluge moved in. Had to close up but I left the cover propped to allow stragglers in. Checked on it today and both sides seem calm. I'll check back in a few and plan on reducing down to one deep. If they manage to requeen, fine, if not, I have a booming russian hive that could handle a split. Either way I will likely have to feed right up to goldenrod flow.
Thanks for the help, guys! It really helps my confidence level. :)