it is always good to remind yourself that the adult small hive beetle is a pest but it also does no real damage to the hive. if the number of shb are small and the hive has no place for them to hide and reproduce then you will in fact have less problems with the larvae stage of the small hive beetle which is the little bugger that does the most damage. you can make a list of what to do when the small hive beetle arrives... 1) place hive in full sunshine, 2) remove any vegetation from around the bottom of the hive*, 3) keep the hive healthy and strong and 4) get rid of an burn any old and rotting bee equipment.
*a really hard surface or old driveway also makes the shb existence pretty meager since it want to burrow into the ground as it approaches the pupae stage. I have one location on the top of an old old coral reef (dating back to the time when Texas was an inland sea) and I have almost no small hive beetles at that site.
