sneaky little bas*t#*ds

[rober]

it pays to be vigilant. I built a shed off the back of my workshop dedicated to bee equipment. when I attached the sills to the concrete I caulked then with industrial urethane. the plywood sheathing hangs 1 1/2" below the concrete & I used the same caulk where the plwood meets concrete . I put plywood between the rafters where they sit on the walls & caulked the joints.the metal threshold & inside wall plates-same caulk. the commercial hollow metal door jamb was caulked at the siding & I filled the bottom of the jamb with spray foam. the inside of the door has commercial weather stripping. this building is so airtight it requires some effort to close the door.  I NEVER leave the door open. frames are frozen before being brought in. any woodenware  is hosed off & left to roast in the sun for a few days before being brought in. boxes with frames are stacked on plywood & have spacer rims at the bottom, middle, & top with moth crystals & an outer cover on top. luckily yesterday I needed a some deep frames cuz' when I went into a stack I found a box with some S.H.B. larva. I only found 1 beetle. that's all it took. I went theu the rest of the stacks & all was well. the beetle might have flown in while I was carrying stuff in or......? just goes to show you cannot be too careful. so far as I know there is nothing you can do to protect your gear from S.H.B. I do have all surfaces of woodenware that the bees might be exposed to covered so once a month I set off a couple of those aerosol insect bombs.

[Perry]

An ounce of prevention................
That's why I am trying hard to stop SHB from even getting into our province.

[rober]

 I think I already posted about this but those who may have missed it. after 2 mild winters beetle counts are way up around here. I use division board feeders & the love to hide them. in the past I would turn the feeder upside down & thump it on an overturned outside cover & 'pressure test' the beetles that fell out. this year ther are so many that I cannot smash them all before the run away or fly off so I've been taking a 5 gallon bucket with a few inches of a strong bleach solution & shake the beetles into that. very few escape.
perry- the Canadian beetle saga continues. someone hauled some uninspected hives without permits from Ontario to alberta & they had beetles so they had to quarantine an area. I do not know how hives could safely be inspected. all it tales is one beetle.
 i'm with you perry. inspected or not i'd not want any hives brought in from anywhere.

https://www.dadant.com/quarantine-area-peace-river-region-established-small-hive-beetle-found-honey-bee-colonies/

[efmesch]

Your story reminds me of the days in the early 1980's, when Varroa made its way across Europe and eventually across the Atlantic. 
I fear the day when that first SHB makes its way into Israel.
The "open skies" policy for travellers may be beneficial for tourists, but they wreak havoc on inumerable eco-systems across the globe.  So many invasive species travel to new locations, where they have  few or no natural enemies to control them. 

[Perry]

Thanks for that link Rober, I've posted it in our local Beekeepers Facebook page.

[rober]

my pleasure. I know you've been following this issue.