Author Topic: Small Hive Beetle (Read 18977 times)

Chip Euliss · « **Reply #20 on:** March 11, 2016, 08:01:25 pm »

Perry, from what I've heard about the only thing that works on them is coumaphos. Nasty stuff so most people prefer to use oil in traps. Commercial keeps can't afford the labor that requires and try to keep their hives very strong. As others have mentioned, good strong hives handle them pretty well but new nucs or failing/weak hives are susceptible because they have a reduced work force. Folks I know who have them down south also have to keep their hives meticulously scraped to reduce the places the beetles can hide. Bees don't like them but their hard exoskeleton makes it hard for the bees to damage them. Strong hives will make little "jails" out of propolis and herd the beetles inside I'm told. We have lots of keeps here who migrate up from the south that have lots of beetles and the biggest problem they have is with their harvested honey supers. They have to process them right away or they can loose their crop. If honey supers have beetles in them, it doesn't take long for them to look like a maggoty mess. Don't know why we don't have an issue with them here for sure but I doubt the beetles do well when our ground freezes 6 feet deep or more in winter. Water pipes are buried 8 feet deep here and that doesn't always guarantee that you're safe!

Lburou · « **Reply #21 on:** March 11, 2016, 10:55:54 pm »

Quote from: Chip Euliss on March 11, 2016, 08:01:25 pm

...Strong hives will make little "jails" out of propolis and herd the beetles inside...

Those beetle jails are frequently between the top of the frames and bottom of the inner cover or migratory cover. You often see beetles running when opening the hive (because you just broke them out of jail), so you learn to be vigilant on opening the hive.

Chip Euliss · « **Reply #22 on:** March 12, 2016, 09:34:21 am »

A real life "Get out of Jail Free" card for SHB. Beekeepers Monopoly

CBT · « **Reply #23 on:** March 12, 2016, 05:23:03 pm »

I have tried plastic cardboard on top of the brood frames. The Beatles hide in them I grab it with hive tool and throw it and the beatles in a bucket of water. Some get away. I'm going to make a metal frame that just fits over the hole thing (like a comb cutter) so when the inner cover is taken off place the cutter over the plastic card board trapping them until the hive tool gets them to the water bucket.

iddee · « **Reply #24 on:** March 12, 2016, 06:15:20 pm »

CBT, this works much better.

CBT · « **Reply #25 on:** March 12, 2016, 08:27:36 pm »

Tried it late in the season but used lard and did not work well enough for me to say. Will use the one and only crisco this year.

rcannon · « **Reply #26 on:** March 12, 2016, 08:35:44 pm »

Iddee, is there any chance of the beetles dragging the boric acid back out of the trap and into the hive?
I've considered using those things, but have been reluctant to try them without talking to someone who's actually used them.
As CBT said, plain cardboard works as good as the beetle traps that go between the frames. The beetles go inside to hide from the bees. I drop the cardboard in a plastic bag and then into the fire.
The oil trays work real good, but they are messy and constantly need attention.
The beetle population seems to vary thru the years. Some years are real bad and some are not. I don't have any explanation for that, just an observation.

iddee · « **Reply #27 on:** March 12, 2016, 08:47:18 pm »

I've never used anything for beetles other than setting the hives in full sun. Never needed anything else.

CBT · « **Reply #28 on:** March 12, 2016, 08:51:43 pm »

At this time that is not an option for us. Maybe some outyards in full sun. Keep on pluggin.

Mikey N.C. · « **Reply #29 on:** March 13, 2016, 02:07:08 pm »

Perry,
Here are some oil trays that cover it up made

Perry · « **Reply #30 on:** March 13, 2016, 05:54:33 pm »

Thanks Mike.

I assume that they have screen bottoms?

Woody Roberts · « **Reply #31 on:** March 13, 2016, 09:42:54 pm »

In the past I've had SHB problems. After losing a couple hives and a whole lot of honey in desperation I bought an IPK beetle trap from Green beehives. It's a screen bottom with an oil tray under it. The screen is #6 mesh. I believe this is very important.

This worked so well I now have them on all my hives and won't set up a new one without them. Yes the oil gets nasty and changing it is a pain but nothing compared to cleaning up a hive that has been ravaged by SHB.
When I open a hive now and see a live beetle I know my oil needs changing. It is a rare event that I see a live one in hives with a working trap on it. My nucs are a different story.
Many people try to use a regular SBB and oil tray under it. These are generally #8 mesh and SHB don't always go through into the oil.
I've posted my experience with these traps on several different forums the last few years and have heard lots of naysayers. While I've heard people who don't have them say they don't work I've never known anyone who did have them say they didn't work.

While we certainly have SHB in Missouri I no longer give them a second thought.

Mikey N.C. · « **Reply #32 on:** March 13, 2016, 09:54:37 pm »

Yes,But as iddee said , here sunshine seems to work here,video I watched,that Lbr. Posted was a eye opener very good info imho

Woody Roberts · « **Reply #33 on:** March 13, 2016, 10:14:43 pm »

Yes, full sun is certainly a big help. A strong hive with no extra space will keep them under control also. Some of my hives are in full sun but many are not. And for me a strong hive today may not be as strong 2 months later. Things change fast in the bee world.

kebee · « **Reply #34 on:** March 14, 2016, 06:47:24 am »

Woody I agree with you on the oil pans for I have the same ones you have under all of my hives and they are the answer to shb. I have my hives in full sun and still with strong hives and still see a lot of them dead in the veg. oil, don't know how the poor bees survive before I started useing them.

Ken

Perry · « **Reply #35 on:** March 14, 2016, 07:05:28 am »

#6 mesh? Wouldn't bees get through that and possibly get into it?

kebee · « **Reply #36 on:** March 14, 2016, 08:13:45 am »

Perry never had a bee show up in the oil pan below, cannot say they could but never saw one, I think they know what it is for and stay out if they can go through the wire.

Ken

apisbees · « **Reply #37 on:** March 14, 2016, 12:51:11 pm »

the only way to get the bees to go through a #6 wire is to force them through it as with a pollen trap. As Yankee found out last year if the bees can find a way around it they will. I would think if you were moving a hive the guard bees would be coming through the screen to check out what is going on. If moving the hives you would want to remove the oil from the tray and make sure the tray was sealed well to be bee tight.

Woody Roberts · « **Reply #38 on:** March 14, 2016, 06:42:23 pm »

Yes to empty the oil tray before moving a hive. I'm not talking theory here. There will be oil everywhere.

I occasionally get a few bees in the oil. I suspect they were already dead and perhaps shrunk slightly or the house bees shoved them thru.

I don't believe a bee can fit easily thru a #6 mesh but a hive beetle can't cross it without falling thru.

Gypsi · « **Reply #39 on:** March 14, 2016, 11:45:42 pm »

I rarely see more than 2 SHB in a hive at a time, but I use the cloth beetle traps and they get filled right up. They are much worse on rainy years than drought I have discovered. Annoyance factor - if you cannot extract your honey right away, well I hung a CO2 output on mine, and wrapped it in a contractor's trash bag in the front yard and it stunned but did not kill the 2 shb in the box of honey, BUT they were stunned enough my honey wasn't ruined while I waited 3 days for the club extractor.

Author Topic: Small Hive Beetle (Read 18977 times)

Gypsi