Author Topic: small hive beetle control (Read 33607 times)

bailey · « **on:** August 03, 2008, 05:47:21 pm »

well i have been visited by the small hive beetle!! they are busy making a mess of my weaker hives.
i have deployed traps but i am wondering something.

the larvae look much like wax moth larvae. so will the certan ( bt ) controll the hive beetle larvae as well as it controlls the wax moth larvae?

looking foreward to any and all answers.

bailey

asprince · « **Reply #1 on:** August 03, 2008, 07:12:51 pm »

so will the certan ( bt ) controll the hive beetle larvae as well as it controlls the wax moth larvae?

No! The larva are extremely hard to kill. I have washed them out on my asphalt drive and they will live for days. Fire ants won't eat them! I have even frozen them and when thawed, they come alive!

They are demons straight from HELL!

Is that plain enough or do you want me to tell you how I really feel about SHB's?

Steve

bens · « **Reply #2 on:** August 03, 2008, 07:31:03 pm »

I had them last year, This year I used traps from Dadant and this year two strong hives with no beetles. The traps I used are the ones that you put under the hive and fill with veg. oil.

sc-bee · « **Reply #3 on:** August 03, 2008, 11:27:38 pm »

Different BT target different grubs etc. The Bt in certan will not target shb.

greenismycolor · « **Reply #4 on:** August 04, 2008, 12:00:14 am »

I am with YOU asprince, The only real way to kill these mosters is with a hive tool, and that goes for their moms too!!!!! I just lost a hive due to shb and robbing :'(

Scadsobees · « **Reply #5 on:** August 04, 2008, 01:53:40 pm »

The BT in milky spore lawn treatment *might* help, but even then I wouldn't stick that in my hive, only on the ground.

I'm pretty sure that a couple of days in a deep freezer will make sure that they don't come back to life. Wax moths, however, can survive better in a freezer, but they still can't compete with 0F...

JP · « **Reply #6 on:** August 04, 2008, 09:06:00 pm »

Once they take over and the larvae are working the combs hard and you smell the rot, the combs are ruined and its shake out time, especially if they are queenless which they usually are when they get to that point.

If they aren't queenless you could set them up in a nuc with drawn comb from another colony and some brood to boost their numbers.

Put the infested combs out in the open away from the hives so the bees can rob what they want and the shb can suffer a slow and painful death.

...JP

ArmucheeBee · « **Reply #7 on:** August 04, 2008, 09:32:59 pm »

Does a hive go queenless due to SHB or does a hive go queenless and then go SHB?

asprince · « **Reply #8 on:** August 04, 2008, 10:32:58 pm »

If the hive is queenless and gets weak the SHB's will take over. If the hive is queenrite and gets weak, the SHB's will take over and the bees will abscond.

Steve

ula ula · « **Reply #9 on:** August 05, 2008, 02:58:32 am »

hi heard that some hobbybeekeeper her are making up tray es putting somesort poison on the bottom covering with soil when the lava comes out to go in the groundthey fall in the tray es bury down and the poison get them. heard one fella using ant powder.put it on the bottom sprinkle the dirt over the top. he told me he thinks he is having a win as he has started to break the cycle as they have to get to the ground to finish their cycle.

JP · « **Reply #10 on:** August 05, 2008, 09:33:04 am »

Quote from: ula ula on August 05, 2008, 02:58:32 am

hi heard that some hobbybeekeeper her are making up tray es putting somesort poison on the bottom covering with soil when the lava comes out to go in the groundthey fall in the tray es bury down and the poison get them. heard one fella using ant powder.put it on the bottom sprinkle the dirt over the top. he told me he thinks he is having a win as he has started to break the cycle as they have to get to the ground to finish their cycle.

Have to be very careful about what you put under a hive, you can get fumes that go airborne and rise up into the hive from liquid applications and dusts are notorius for drifting, I would cover any type of dust application as well.

This is a no brainer, but I will state the obvious anyway. Before any type of application under a hive, I would strongly recommend it be moved before the application, then it can be put back.

One more thing, with the use of any type of chemical application read the label and follow it to the T, accidents and mishaps usually occur when applications are done without adhering strictly to the label.

...JP

ula ula · « **Reply #11 on:** August 05, 2008, 07:04:27 pm »

hi
i made my test one up in away from hive, i can see your point .let you no how it go's as we are coming in to spring in a month.sprinkled ant dust over the bottom than put inch soil over the hole tray.[yes the dust need to be put in away from hive as it does rise dont do it in the open in wind]. my tray is the full length of the hive.

catfishbill · « **Reply #12 on:** August 06, 2008, 06:28:09 pm »

i once read that putting 20 mule team borax in a piece of corrugated cardboard and putting duct tape on it then tape it to the top will kill them.any one else tried this?
bill

sc-bee · « **Reply #13 on:** August 07, 2008, 12:25:21 am »

> from website:Borax (from Persian burah), also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid.

"Borax" and "Boric acid" are not the same.
Borax is Na2B4O7-10H2O, Hydrated sodium borate
Boric acid is H3BO3

I have heard of people using boric acid but not Borax.

JP · « **Reply #14 on:** August 07, 2008, 06:40:51 am »

Quote from: sc-bee on August 07, 2008, 12:25:21 am

> from website:Borax (from Persian burah), also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid.

"Borax" and "Boric acid" are not the same.
Borax is Na2B4O7-10H2O, Hydrated sodium borate
Boric acid is H3BO3

I have heard of people using boric acid but not Borax.

You can use either one.

...JP

catfishbill · « **Reply #15 on:** August 07, 2008, 12:04:12 pm »

i think i read it on this site.who was telling us about it?i can't remember.thanks
bill

ArmucheeBee · « **Reply #16 on:** August 07, 2008, 08:39:46 pm »

I ran a pest control department for 5 years and held a Georgia Pest Control license. What Boric acid does is act as an irritant to the exoskeleton of the an insect. They begin scratching at their exoskeleton which causes a lesion that becomes infected and then they die of the bacteria infection. We used boric acid in the largest kitchen in the US, Central State Hospital (Milledgeville) because it is not a poison to humans and can be used in a food service area without harm to us. It can also be carried by an insect into their hiding places and spread to others. So if a bee gets it on them then it will transport it to many others in the hive--that would not be good. In my previous life I actually sprayed honeybees out of a house because we could not find anyone to cut them out--every sting is my punishment now! :evil:

JP · « **Reply #17 on:** August 07, 2008, 11:16:19 pm »

Boric acid and borax chiefly work as stomach poisons. When using it for shb it is placed in corrugated plastic such as real estate signs and can be sealed with a little crisco and placed between a top cover and inner cover with great results and no harm to the bees.

PCO for 18 1/2 yrs.

...JP

sc-bee · « **Reply #18 on:** August 08, 2008, 12:24:29 am »

Don't run inner covers JP --- I understand you can staple it to the bottom board. Do you see any problems arising from that?

JP · « **Reply #19 on:** August 08, 2008, 07:27:53 am »

Quote from: sc-bee on August 08, 2008, 12:24:29 am

Don't run inner covers JP --- I understand you can staple it to the bottom board. Do you see any problems arising from that?

Can do that as well. I hear great things about the AJ traps as well, it uses no chemicals just vegetable oils to drown the beetles, pretty ingenious.

...JP