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Author Topic: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge  (Read 19469 times)

Offline sc-bee

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #20 on: July 18, 2009, 11:49:27 pm »
I'm having better luck with the AJ trap this year. It only works in hives where the bees want to corral the beetles. Some bees just care less about trying to corral the critters.

It is not mentioned anywhere when you buy the traps --- but AJ suggest you cover the traps with a piece of linoleum etc. My thoughts are --this seems to give the beetles a place to try and hide from the bees and therefore draws them toward the trap.

I have not been impressed with the Hood Traps at all. They do not retain their shap and begin to trap bees.
I would often find traps full of bees, so I discontinued their use.

I have tried to stay away from west traps so far because of size and cost.
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Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #21 on: July 22, 2009, 10:24:47 pm »
I'm having better luck with the AJ trap this year. It only works in hives where the bees want to corral the beetles. Some bees just care less about trying to corral the critters.

It is not mentioned anywhere when you buy the traps --- but AJ suggest you cover the traps with a piece of linoleum etc. My thoughts are --this seems to give the beetles a place to try and hide from the bees and therefore draws them toward the trap.

I have not been impressed with the Hood Traps at all. They do not retain their shap and begin to trap bees.
I would often find traps full of bees, so I discontinued their use.

I have tried to stay away from west traps so far because of size and cost.


I think the important thing is that the AJ beetle trap is covered, be it with lanolium, cardboard, or vaneer, the covering so that the beetles scurry under it to hid and get trapped is the main objective.  I'd recommend optaining the traps and then covering them with some type of heavy paper stock or vaneer.  The heavy paper stock would have to be replaced every so often but might be worth the trouble.
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Offline Joelel

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #22 on: July 26, 2009, 11:05:36 am »
We found that, if you keep your entrance only as large as needed the guard bees will be able to guard the entrance and kill the SHB no matter how strong or week the hive. Don't let them in to start with.
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Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #23 on: July 26, 2009, 11:20:28 pm »
I would agree with that Joelel. Although I have my entrances set at 3/8" high by whatever length seems appropriate for the hive, I still get the shb into the hive. Certainly the reduced entrance gives the hive a better chance of defending their territory.

Mick

Offline mgmoore7

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #24 on: July 28, 2009, 05:26:45 pm »
We found that, if you keep your entrance only as large as needed the guard bees will be able to guard the entrance and kill the SHB no matter how strong or week the hive. Don't let them in to start with.

My hives have screened bottom boards and the beetles can get through them.

Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #25 on: July 29, 2009, 09:24:17 am »
I would modify them so that the mesh is small enough that the shb cant gain access that way

Mick

Offline jclark96

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #26 on: August 16, 2009, 10:37:23 am »
You guys probably already know, but for the sake of everyone else, my hive is currently broodless because of the SHB. The queen is laying well, but the beetles roam around laying eggs, pooping and eating. So the bees clean everything out, bee eggs, larvae and all. As we know if you don't have brood your hive will soon collapse. :-x

Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #27 on: August 16, 2009, 06:29:39 pm »
JC, that hive is sure in trouble.

If there is no brood in the box it is probably worth shaking the bees into a new box with new frames and freezing the old frames for at least 24 hours to kill the shb, eggs and larva. All the  honey frames will need freezing to get rid of the larva. If they have gone slimy then you could hose them clean into a large drum that has water and detergent in it to drown the larva and then freeze.

Ultimately you have to get some control over the shb in the hive or this is going to be a continuing problem for you.

One shb adult lays some hundreds of eggs hence you may not see the beetle but you will see the larva when they get into your honey supers and by then it is generally too late. You are in shb territory so it is unlikely you will be able to get nucs that are shb free

The idea is to minimise the number of beetle in the hive and to eliminate places for them to lay.. pretty hard to do but necessary.

Reduce the entrance to the size that your guard bees can manage. My hives are presently working on entrances 3/8" high by 3"-6" long One entrance only.

Get flyscreen over any sbb's you have to prevent the beetle entering that way

Take off empty supers and freeze the frames. Replace super only when necessary and then only frame by frame as they are needed

Make sure that bees cover every frame fully

Dont put stickeys back on the hive but allow the cleaning to be done out of the hive.

Dont leave pollen patties around or in the hive too long.. I understand that 3 days is too long.

Get traps in

Monitor regularly. Check the brood box to make sure that the shb is not getting into the bee larva.

If you can control the shb adult in the hive you will control the larva. You were seeing the larva in the BB oil trap because they migrate to the light at the entrance where they fall to the ground to pupate.

If you see large numbers of larva in your BB oil trap remove your supers hose the larva into a drum of water and detergent and then freeze the frames. Dont let the larva enter the soil but make sure you kill them.

Hope that helps

Mick

Offline Mason

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #28 on: August 24, 2009, 05:31:30 pm »
Say whatever you like but,

there are NO beetles in my hives anymore.  One or two days and there was no living adult beetles to be found in my hives.

Now back at a manageable level I can consider other ways to control them.  For me it was getting out of control and I did what I needed to do to keep my hives alive. 

Former beekeeper until March....maybe next year...RIP

Offline jclark96

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #29 on: August 25, 2009, 11:03:50 pm »
What did you do to control the beetles? Why is it our business what you do with your bees? There are more than one way to skin a cat. I think the point of this threat is to help each other out.

Offline Mason

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #30 on: August 29, 2009, 04:03:15 pm »
Well,

I have mentioned it in several post but always ignored.  I think some people think it is cheating or prefer to watch hives struggle in an effort to come up with more organic treatments.  My bees were in big trouble,  I was not taking any honey and resorted to more extreme methods.

ROACH KILLER!  I got it in the paste form.  It comes in a tube.  I put it in a CD box and made some traps out of plastic corrugated board.  Just slit the pieces half way through,  apply roach killer and tape it back up.  The beetles can get into the little holes but not the bees.  The CD case works the same way.

3 days and complete victory.  I have not seen a beetle in 3 weeks.  If I do I will just freshen up the traps.

 
Former beekeeper until March....maybe next year...RIP

Offline jclark96

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #31 on: August 29, 2009, 10:03:17 pm »
Sorry if I sounded like a maniac. My beetles are back so I will have to continue the battle.

Offline JWPick

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #32 on: September 04, 2009, 02:02:00 pm »
Hi everyone! I'm new (Don't have bees yet, but i've already ordered supplies and will have two hives next year) and I came across this post. It's very interesting and imformational to all us new people. I've talked to two different beeks (One is the breeder of bees that I'll be ordering from in January and the other is a local guy who's been in it about a year) and their respective tools were the Freeman Beetle Trap (which caught approx 134 beetles in one day) and a roach motel (for the small roaches so the bees can't get into it). I've actually seen the Freeman Trap results and will probably implement both ideas.

Offline Robo

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #33 on: September 04, 2009, 08:23:14 pm »
Make sure you join us for next Thursday's podcast on SHB control.   We will have Jerry Freeman as our special guest.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,24597.0.html
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Offline David LaFerney

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #34 on: September 08, 2009, 12:22:16 am »
I ran across this video, and thought that it might interest some.  I've seen only a few SHB in my hives so far, and I have my eyes out for something that is simple and effective.  Not wild about poison in the hive.  I think next year I might try an altoid box with some holes in the top and oil inside.  Anyway...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_KDPp8H6PU[/youtube]
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Offline David LaFerney

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SHB walking right past guard bees
« Reply #35 on: September 08, 2009, 09:18:33 pm »
Right at dusk I noticed several hive beetles landing on my hives and trying to go in.  Right before I took this video I saw a guard bee intercept one outside the hive and fly off with it.  I thought that's cool maybe they will do it again.  The other guard bees must have been on break or something..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGFsZSkg54c[/youtube]

I guess it's time to take action other than reducing the entrance and hoping for the best.  BTW right after that I started squashing beetles.
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Offline asprince

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Re: SHB control. Accumulated Knowledge
« Reply #36 on: September 08, 2009, 10:10:09 pm »
Well,

I have mentioned it in several post but always ignored.  I think some people think it is cheating or prefer to watch hives struggle in an effort to come up with more organic treatments.  My bees were in big trouble,  I was not taking any honey and resorted to more extreme methods.

ROACH KILLER!  I got it in the paste form.  It comes in a tube.  I put it in a CD box and made some traps out of plastic corrugated board.  Just slit the pieces half way through,  apply roach killer and tape it back up.  The beetles can get into the little holes but not the bees.  The CD case works the same way.

3 days and complete victory.  I have not seen a beetle in 3 weeks.  If I do I will just freshen up the traps.

 

Mason,

I concur with your findings. I have used these bait traps with great success. People with SERIOUS beetle problems must take more drastic measures or be wiped out. I have not tried the boric acid traps yet but plan to.

Rarely did I see a beetle all summer until about a month ago. I moved a trailer load of strong hives from one location to another about 40 miles away. Within a week there were hundreds and hundreds of them on every hive! I thought my queens all had stopped laying because I saw very little eggs or larva. The problem was the beetles were eating the eggs as fast as the queens could lay them. I placed traps in the hives and in a few days, dead beetles everywhere. Hives are full of brood again. Last weekend I moved them again to sunflowers. Certain areas seem to have a bigger population of beetles than others just a few miles away. Go figure?

Steve
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