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Author Topic: SHB Observations - Out of the apiary - and some questions  (Read 2842 times)

Offline robbo

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SHB Observations - Out of the apiary - and some questions
« on: December 07, 2009, 07:22:02 am »
Just thought I'd share some stuff that I noticed. I look after a neglected apiary, and am trying to get it back in order. In the process I lost a hive - bees couldnt take it any more. Very Sad.

Anyhow, just some piccys first up - 2 supers of slimed up frames in the end





I started the fire, and dropped a frame in every few minutes and watched them burn. I made sure I didnt drop any of the wrigglers into the ground on the way to the fire - Its amazing how they drop off the frame when the frame is lifted and tilted - they sort of all bail out.



So I had a bucket of water to put the fire out. 15 minutes after dropping the last frame in the fire, I dropped some water in. I could not believe that some of the lava were still alive in there!!!

I came back the next day and had left the bucket of water next to the fire - it must have had 30 SHB in it (didnt have camera with me tho ), plus various other things. I guess the slime smell attracted them to the area.
My question is, what do you kill lava, and SHB with outside the apiary, or in the honey house? All I had was a can of degreaser - which worked - haha - but does a detergent work? How do you guys kill them en masse ?? Anyone use some kind of trap near the hives that isnt a bettle trap under or in the hive?


« Last Edit: December 07, 2009, 05:03:22 pm by robbo »

Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB Observations - Out of the apiary - and some questions
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2009, 07:04:52 am »
Robbo, those pics remind me of the times I had to deal with the same thing.. they are quite disgusting arent they? You almost want to puke

I dealt with the larva  by filling a large tub with water and then pouring in a heap of detergent to break down the surface tension so that the grubs couldn't take air to the bottom with them. Then I let them stew in the sun. Seemed to do the job

Mick

Offline BjornBee

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Re: SHB Observations - Out of the apiary - and some questions
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2009, 09:39:50 am »
I wondered if the bees could not take it, before they could not take it.....from the SHB.  :roll:

Looks like the SHB did the bees a favor, in an ironic way. That comb must be 20-30 years old. That stuff needed burning. I wonder if not for the SHB, how much longer the comb would of been used..... :(

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Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

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Re: SHB Observations - Out of the apiary - and some questions
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2009, 09:05:30 am »
lol, hey slick, that all looks to familiar to me.. a light bi carb soda bath should fix it up, worked for me and my frames where identical to that, 2 tables spoons of bi carb with half a bath tub of luke warm water, or detergent, that should fix it up.. anyway, if your frames have any holes,, even small, then you might as well through them out cuz the shb just cram themselves in the hole and youll never take control of the hive :( prolly best to just burn it i think !

Offline kedgel

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Re: SHB Observations - Out of the apiary - and some questions
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2009, 02:51:58 pm »
Burned the frames?!?  Why?  I just bag 'em and freeze them.  It kills the little bastards, eggs and all.  I then take the frames out to my Koi pond and beat them with my hive tool.  Most of the larvae fall out into the pond.  The fish love them!  I get a sadistic satisfaction watching the fish feast on their dead butts!  I have beat frames of live larvae into the pond, but found some of them somehow made it up to the top alive.  Rather than chance it, I kill them first, then the fish can eat them at their leisure.  I read that you can treat the ground with some stuff (right now, the name escapes me, but W.T. Kelley sells it) that kills the larvae as well as fire ants.  I've never tried it, since trying to control them by treating the ground around your hives is like shooting peas at a battleship.  They fly in from everywhere, so even if they aren't pupating in the ground under your hives, they are pupating everywhere there is a feral hive.  As for the comb, the bees will re-hab it in no time.  If you want to pitch it, just cut it out and re-foundation the frames.  Geez.  Beekeeping is expensive enough as it is!  I would be replacing my frames several times a year if I burned them every time I had a SHB infestation.
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