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Author Topic: small hive beetles and advice  (Read 37458 times)

Offline LivelyHive

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small hive beetles and advice
« on: July 24, 2010, 10:08:59 pm »
Hello,
This critter was crawling around the hive entrance around some of his shriveled friends. :-P The bees seem to be ignoring them, but they look frighteningly like SHB larvae. The hive is strong, it looks like I need to do an inspection. What are my best non-chem treatment options?




http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter,nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5G95PA?open

http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/disorders/small-hive-beetle.html

http://www.devonbeekeepers.org.uk/bees5b.html
« Last Edit: July 25, 2010, 07:55:24 am by Robo »
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Offline doak

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2010, 10:16:20 pm »
oil traps using cooking oil.  :)doak

Offline AllenF

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2010, 10:20:04 pm »
Use your thumb and kill everyone you find.  I like to use beetle barns and a ground drench.  I cleaned out my oil trays on Thursday.   They were full of wax particles, beetles, bees, and lots of pollen.  Took the torch to it to kill out all the maggots in there.  It burned for hours.   The wife wanted to know what all that black stuff was and why was it burning.  I told her it was lightning strike.   She would buy it.   Now I need about 15 more gallons of oil.

Offline doak

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2010, 12:19:54 am »
I tried the bottom trays and switched to the little top ones, bees don't seem to get in and it takes very little oil. they fit between two frames. no wax debris to amount to anything. :)doak

Offline jclark96

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2010, 09:01:01 pm »
From my battle last year, kill all of them you find (If they are to bad take the hive apart and kill all that you find.), don't let the worms get to the ground (get chickens or guinea hens), keep your hives strong.

Offline Sparky

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2010, 10:06:06 pm »

Offline dennis2021

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2010, 12:19:08 pm »
From my battle last year, kill all of them you find (If they are to bad take the hive apart and kill all that you find.), don't let the worms get to the ground (get chickens or guinea hens), keep your hives strong.

How many do you have around how many hives? Questions is.... How many does it take to be effective? Guineas or chickens or combo?
Do gunieas eat bees, do bees care about/bothered by our fathered friends?
Have a sweet day,
Dennis the Bee Guy

Offline Mason

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2010, 05:02:57 pm »
I poison them and take the traps out if there is a potential for a honey harvest.  There are virtually no SHB in my hives and I think the bees really appreciate it.  For me it was a question as to if I was a beekeeper or a honey producer.  I figured if my hives died because I didn't control the SHB...what's the point?
Former beekeeper until March....maybe next year...RIP

Offline AllenF

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2010, 05:52:29 pm »
I understand what you mean.   But there are a lot of people that don't like the idea of roach poison anywhere near the bees.   

Offline Culley

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2010, 09:03:18 pm »
My home made cooking oil traps have been catching 40-60 in the first day and then about 20-25 a day, soon dwindling down to 3-5 a day depending on infestation. There's still beetles running around in the hive though. I'd be interested to know if anyone has any info about beetle populations. How many do you need to kill in what time frame to keep the hives afloat?
I understand the larvae will hatch and boom the population.
Also the beetles fly in in late afternoon. Where do they come from?

Offline AllenF

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2010, 10:00:48 pm »
I know that when the beetles come out of the soil, they do not have to live in a bee hive.   They can eat pollen and fruit off the plants.    They just use the hive to reproduce and if the hive has food for them and they can get to it easy, they will take up in that hive.   I think they fly all the time of the day or night, but most say at night.   Stop them in the hive before they lay eggs is the best way to keep the population down.  Then kill them in the ground with gardstar as a second measure.  Just some thoughts on SHB.

Offline Culley

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2010, 01:07:35 am »
If each larvae becomes one beetle, there is no way the population explosion I'm witnessing is from an isolated population. They must be flying in. If there are other infested hives in my area, no amount of in-hive control would necessarily dent the beetle population.
What about catching them as they fly in? I'm aware of the beetle jail traps.
Are there other ways to catch them as they come flying in in the evening?

Offline AllenF

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2010, 03:24:18 am »
You can make a PVC tube trap and place it outside the hive, but that just shows there are SHB in you area.   They are still going to get into the hive.   You can also place a oil trap under your hive.  Either under a screen bottom or they make one trap, all black plastic that goes over the bottom board.

Offline Mason

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #13 on: October 08, 2010, 01:34:51 pm »
If your not going to be pulling any honey off....just kill them.  That way you will have the healthiest hive possible going into winter.
Former beekeeper until March....maybe next year...RIP

Offline Bee Happy

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #14 on: October 08, 2010, 02:04:49 pm »
full sun, and some kind of oil filled trap - I had the west on one hive, and the other hives were SBB, the west trap and the SBB with fire ants on the ground below didn't have a problem with infestation. I had one SBB that had an undesireable SHB population, (no trap, no ants, poor sun) so that hive is being relocated, possibly over an anthill. (the trick is to make sure the ants can't get into the hive itself) Under the hive they will eat the SHB larvae, in the hive is just trouble.
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Offline Culley

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #15 on: October 08, 2010, 10:23:39 pm »
If your not going to be pulling any honey off....just kill them.  That way you will have the healthiest hive possible going into winter.

If you're using roach poison, why would you not want to use this trap during a honey harvest? Is there potential to contaminate the honey?

Wouldn't there be a risk then that you'd contaminate the honey that the bees are eating and feeding to their brood?

----
Edit: Just read this very interesting study about bee alarm pheremones and SHB.
Among many interesting points are;
  • SHB detect bee alarm pheremones at much smaller levels than bees detect them
  • the main pheremone only attracted up to 40% of beetles in tests
  • beetles carry a strain of yeast that produces honey bee alarm pheromones when grown on pollen in hives
« Last Edit: October 08, 2010, 10:34:58 pm by Cullz »

Offline hardwood

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #16 on: October 08, 2010, 10:26:02 pm »
Yes

Scott
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Offline hardwood

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #17 on: October 08, 2010, 10:26:40 pm »
Yes.

Scott
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Offline Mason

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #18 on: October 11, 2010, 01:38:28 pm »
Quote
If you're using roach poison, why would you not want to use this trap during a honey harvest? Is there potential to contaminate the honey

Personally I think that it is such a tiny amount of poison and contained in the trap I doubt there would be any significant contamination at any time.  However,  some people are very adverse to using any chemicals on their hives at any time.  To the point they will watch a hive die out instead of doing what needs to be done to give them a chance.  For me I look at it as a balance.  If the beetles get out of control the hive will die.  One or two of those little traps with a tiny bead of the poison completely eliminates them.  If I start seeing them again I put in another trap and a week later take it out.  Beetles done.....  As a precaution I would take the traps out several weeks before harvest.
Former beekeeper until March....maybe next year...RIP

Offline tecumseh

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Re: small hive beetles and advice
« Reply #19 on: October 12, 2010, 08:05:24 am »
Livelyhives writes:
What are my best non-chem treatment options?

tecumseh:
1) remove infected comb and freeze for 24 hours.  pay special attention to any comb with a lot of pollen (<think shb on steroids).   any web track thru the comb means the comb should be frozen.  after freezing the comb is reusable.

2) if the hive is weak feed some (doesn't normally require a lot).

3) in some situation boost hives with a frame or so of capped brood.

4) anything that falls to the bottom board burn (ie do not scrape unto the ground).
I am 'the panther that passes in the night'... tecumseh.

 

anything