SHB PICS

[sc-bee]

Take A peek: click on image to enlarge

[tillie]

I thought I'd add to this lovely collection:

Larvae in the corner of the slatted rack in my dead hive:



Small Hive Beetles in the corner of an active hive:



Yuck.

Linda T still in Quebec

[asprince]

I feel your pain. I lost a NUCK this year to the SHB. What a nasty mess. I now use Fipronil for control.

Steve

[Erik T]

I feel your pain. I lost a NUCK this year to the SHB. What a nasty mess. I now use Fipronil for control.

How do you go about using it without damaging your bees?   I'm unsure how to safely do it using coroplast.

[Cindi]

Holy smoke!!!  Those pictures are sick, especially Linda's.  I cannot stand the hideous parasites that plague the honeybees.  As far as I know, we don't have SHB in my area and I hope they never come up here.  What a nasty thing and I feel for you all that have that incideous messy beetle and its disgusting larvae.  What a terrible thing.  Still....have a wonderful day, love our life we're livin'.  Cindi

[Erik T]

Yes SHB are absolutely disgusting.  Most control measures don't work, e.g. guardstar.  Trapping them is the best option but it only works to a point.

The beetles can smell a hive for many miles so it's quite hard to prevent an infestation from happening.

[Understudy]

It's funny with the permacomb I don't have that issue quite like that. There are SHB in the hive but no real larva. It's very nice.


Sincerely,
Brendhan

[asprince]

"How do you go about using it without damaging your bees?   I'm unsure how to safely do it using coroplast."

Every beekeeper that I know personally uses it. If used properly with the coroplast it controls the SHB and does not harm the bees. My mentor has 100 plus hives and swears by it. It is hard to argue with 100% success. Since I started using it, I rarely see a SHB. Before, they were everywhere and like I said, I lost a NUC that looked just like the posted pictures.

Steve

[sc-bee]

I understand that fipronil was once used in France but has now been ban.

What is coroplast? Is it the plastic material that the signs are made of?

[TwT]

fipronil is bad stuff but when used correctly your bee's will be fine, this is a post I did a few years ago, I have seen it used this way but never had to here at my place, SHB's just dont do anything here, might be because all these dang fire ants, nothing survives on this ground for over a few minutes..... there are a few pictures of SHB damage on this post below also.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=1974.0

[tillie]

I'm ordering Nematodes - but I don't know where to put them on my deck.   I can put them in the soil under the deck 15 feet or so below, but clearly my SHBs do not pupate in the soil but in my hives, so maybe I'll put the nematodes in something like disposable aluminum baking sheets filled with dirt slid under the hives below the SBB???

I'll email Jamie Ellis and let you all know what he suggests.

Linda T in Atlanta

[TwT]

I'm ordering Nematodes - but I don't know where to put them on my deck.   I can put them in the soil under the deck 15 feet or so below, but clearly my SHBs do not pupate in the soil but in my hives, so maybe I'll put the nematodes in something like disposable aluminum baking sheets filled with dirt slid under the hives below the SBB???

I'll email Jamie Ellis and let you all know what he suggests.

Linda T in Atlanta

Tillie, I have heard this before about SHB's pupating in a hive and was told that SHB's havent evolved to pupatate in a hive yet, they said with all the studies they have seen that SHB's still need soil to pupate in, unless your hives BB's are covered in dirt) this was a idea someone had mentioned on the internet as a idea and it was spread like a bad story,  If you have found any proof  of SHB's pupating in a hive I would like to see it because I haven't heard any thing else from this in about a year, thought this story would have died by now, I would like to see some proof of this if there is any facts .....

here's what Dr. Keith S. Delaplane, said

Beetle larvae do not spin webs or cocoons in the bee hive but rather pupate in the soil outside the hive.

as for as I last heard this has never change  , here in Ga you might not ever get one to raise under your hive, dont need to you can have 5-30 fly in a single night, unless in a closed study all the bettles you see just might be visiting unless you are seeing hives full of larva, then you could have some under your hive.... I know of one Beek in Ga that used this Maxforce Gel  and he brought the findings to the Ga beek meeting, he had found 2500 Bettles in one hive that was killed by the gel, said it works great....

[tillie]

If they don't pupate in the hive, what happens to those tons of larvae in my picture above?  They aren't developed enough to fly and obviously hatched right there in the hive....???

Linda T in Atlanta

[TwT]

eggs will hatch in hive's (close to food source) when doing a inspection have you seen the cocoons, it takes them a while to pupate, they dont cap cells like bee's, they make a cocoon like wax moth larva just smaller, you will be able to see them if they did... here is the time it takes

where it requires 38-81 days to develop from egg to adult , if they pupated in the hives you would be able to see them, would you agree?

[JP]

Nothing like the smell of shb in the morning, clears the sinuses right up! :-D

[Cindi]

Eeeks, I am getting more grossed out by the minute about these SHB.  Linda, I have also heard about the predatory nematodes  being used in the soil to kill the underground bugs.  We use them here in my area to kill the bad bugs underground.  It works like a hot dam!!!!  My carrots, turnips, (all root veggies), when I apply these predatory nematodes do not get wormy, they are great little underground workers, yeah!!!

I wish you all the best of luck with your SHB, it is such a nasty thing I can't stand it!!!!  Have a wonderful day, enjoy our life we have.  Cindi

[sc-bee]

>If they don't pupate in the hive, what happens to those tons of larvae in my picture above?  They aren't developed enough to fly and obviously hatched right there in the hive....

Your right --- they hatch right there in the hive. After that crawl out to the ground--borrow and pupate (or whatever). Most within about a foot from the hive---some as far as meter or further.

I heard the same thing about the claim of them also pupating in the hive but only from Internet sources!!!

[tillie]

So mine must crawl out of the hive and dive bomb 15 feet below to the ground under the deck - disgusting.....glad I don't stand under the deck - it would be raining SHB worms at this point! 

My two strong hives seem to be surviving the onslaught - knock on wood.

Linda T in Atlanta

[asprince]

You can treat the ground under the hive but that will not prevent SHB from flying in from your neighbors untreated hive.

I just returned from our local beekeeper meeting. SHB nightmares were the hot topic tonight.

Steve

[Kathyp]

what does it smell like?  are there any signs that you would see like droppings, etc?

i had a hive earlier that had a sour smell.  i went through it frame by frame and could not find anything out of the ordinary.  only thing i noticed was some fine, almost black, very tiny, granules on the board i put under to check for mites. 

the smell only lasted a couple of weeks, and i never found the source of the black stuff although there were some ants around.

i chalked it up to whatever they had brought into the hive at that time.