Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: rober on August 24, 2013, 11:19:47 am
-
just finished up the 2nd of 2 removals that were in brick bdlgs. both had shb. got another call for a removal from a hive that is in the hollow fork of a tree. the fork split off in a storm. it's still leaning against the tree. when it split the trunk spread open exposing the hive so i had easy access to the bees. i removed & bagged most of the comb. i rubber banded the brood comb into frames ( 4 frames of brood ), put them in a nuc, & put the nuc into the cavity where the hive was. i did not see the queen so i'm hoping the brood will lure her & the bees into the nuc. amazingly i did not see a single shb in this hive. the only other removal i found to be beetle free was a colony that had just recently moved into the structure so the beetles had not found them yet. this is a huge colony. the puzzling thing however is that besides a small amount of pollen there are no stores built up. i did not find any honey at all!?
-
I have hives out back that I only find dead beetles in the dry oil trays. I'm not sure how much having only rather small openings helps but I think these bees have learned how to kill the beetles. There are parts of the world where the bees kill the SHB. I think one place is Africa.
Jim