Worldwide Beekeeping

Beekeeping => Pests and Diseases => Topic started by: Wandering Man on September 29, 2016, 08:03:58 pm

Title: Spiders
Post by: Wandering Man on September 29, 2016, 08:03:58 pm
Do spiders catch and eat Small Hive Beetles?

I dug into my hives today and both had some kind of black spiders living under the top cover.  I squished them, and then worried that maybe they were doing some good for my bees.
Title: Re: Spiders
Post by: brooksbeefarm on September 29, 2016, 09:13:00 pm
If they are the black fuzzy looking spider i don't bother them,BUT, if it's a Black Widow or Brown recluse it get's the hive tool :yes:. Jack
Title: Re: Spiders
Post by: neillsayers on September 29, 2016, 10:57:13 pm
If they are the black fuzzy looking spider i don't bother them,BUT, if it's a Black Widow or Brown recluse it get's the hive tool :yes:. Jack
What Jack said. Don't know if they will do in a SHB or not but if one gets in her web...probably. My bee yard is on the edge of the woods and during summer every hive has daddy-long-legs hanging out all over the hive. I used to be really rough with them, just because they creeped me out. Then I looked them up and found out their food source was small insects including seed ticks and MITES! Now I gently brush them out of the way. :)