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Author Topic: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB  (Read 6459 times)

Offline SlickMick

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SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« on: February 23, 2009, 07:09:14 am »
I have 3  nucs comprising of 2 swarms and one commercial nuc and I am in the process of building SHB traps into the floor of the nucs as I have lost my only 2 hives to the beetle last year.

When I opened the nucs to remove the bottom boards so that I could modify them, I was interested to observe the actions of the bees in the presence of the SHB. Whilst they corralled them there were bees that actually stood over the SHB and tried to sting the beetle which they could not do because the beetle is too small for the bee to bring the sting into play.

I had not seen this before having seen only the herding behaviour previously. Has anyone else noticed that this is fairly normal or are there other behaviours that you have seen?

Offline carolina bee

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2009, 02:10:06 pm »
what type of trap are you building forthe shb in yuor nuc?? I find that the AJ beetle trap works very well.  I place one between the 4th and 5th frame on the upper box of my nuc and then one on the lower nuc box. The bees seem to drive them in the trap and the mineral oil traps them. It's also easy to clean and reuse.

Offline TwT

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2009, 06:39:35 am »
one thing I have seen before, most in here know what its like trying to putt the propolis looking comb built up about a inch on the bottom board, I pulled one of these off one time and found about 4 small hive beetles in one cell closed in, the other cells had none, maybe they built there own trap? wished I would have had a camera then.
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Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2009, 07:44:06 am »
one thing I have seen before, most in here know what its like trying to putt the propolis looking comb built up about a inch on the bottom board, I pulled one of these off one time and found about 4 small hive beetles in one cell closed in, the other cells had none, maybe they built there own trap? wished I would have had a camera then.

That's really cool. I would have loved to see that. . their own jail  :-D I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience. I must keep an eye out for that.

Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2009, 08:19:58 am »
Carolina Bee, At the  back of the bottom board I cut a rectangle out about 6"x4" (rounded corners) and insert a piece of aluminium .8 or 1mm thick tightly into the hole. This is pinned into the timber of the board so that it does not shift. The aluminium has slots cut into it no more than 3mm wide and these go across the width of the board in a staggered formation. Below the bottom board I rig a slide on each side of the hole and aluminium that takes a low recepticle a bit bigger than the hole. I pour canola or similar oil into this and slide it under the bottom board.

The theory is that the bees herd the beetle along the board and then into the area of the cut our and the beetle takes cover through the slots and falls into the oil and drowns. The good thing about this trap even though it is labour intensive to set up is that you can check it for beetle without opening the hive. I usually do this anyhow and sometimes find the odd SHB running around the box or over the frames.

The traps seem to work pretty well and while I was trying to save my other 2 hives last years I was catching both the larva and the SHB. Not quickly enough to prevent their demise unfortunately. When I get these swarms and nuc up to going into normal hives I will have traps inserted that extend across the bottom board at both the front and back of the bottom board.

Offline ArmucheeBee

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2009, 09:51:36 am »
Can you put on some pictures of this trap?
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Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2009, 04:49:16 pm »
Better than that ArmucheeBee, here is the link that I got my ideas from. Lots of pics to follow http://web.aanet.com.au/~Bees/beetletrap.html. I used a 2.5mm cut off disk on an angle grinder to cut the slots and an orbital sander to clean the dross of the slots. Didn't fancy using a drop saw with a ripping blade  :shock:

Just looking at the trap again I noticed that the pics show the trap set closer to the entry whereas mine are more to the rear of the hive.. theory being that the SHB move to the darker area of the hive??

Offline ArmucheeBee

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2009, 11:11:58 pm »
OK.  That dude in Australia has a pretty bad SHB problem.  That is definitely the way to go with that many SHB coming in.  I bet they have a lot of problems with bees just absconding when the SHB gets like that!!
Stephen Stewart
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Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2009, 06:25:07 am »
First day of fall today and phone calls are still coming in for swarms. I would suspect they are absconding from the SHB. I have 2 that I collected, 1 a week ago and the other 5 weeks ago and I heard of one that appeared yesterday. Not a lot of blossom or pollen around at the moment and I am hoping for an increase in this during the fall or I will be feeding over the colder months. Fortunately it never gets below 45F where I live and in the 40 years we have been here never a frost.. 95F today. So the SHB is an issue the entire year. Will be adding much larger traps (almost the entire floor) when I move the girls into deeps.

Offline ArmucheeBee

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2009, 09:40:48 am »
Slickmick

I take it you are in Australia now?  The "land of Oz" for us in the states is Kansas--as in "Wizard of Oz".  A little confusing, been wondering why you had SHB in Kansas and no one else has!!!!
Stephen Stewart
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"You don't need a license to drive a sandwich."  SpongeBob Squarepants

Offline BULLSEYE BILL

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2009, 02:05:59 pm »
Sorry, Armucheebee, I have to take exception from that.  We do have SHB here in the Land of Oz.  The Great Wizzard made proclamation just last year that both I, the Tinman, and Riverrat the Lion, have the distinction of reporting the first SHB in Kansas.  The first truly obnoxious nuisance since the attack of the Flying Monkeys.

Unfortunately my SHB are in my nursery location and now I don't want to move any of them down the Yellow Brick Road to my outyards where there are none.  :(  With my luck the Wicked Witch will carry them to my outyards for me.  Perhaps I could hire some Little People to run the beetles out of the hives?  I asked the Scarecrow, but he didn't have a brain.

Offline SlickMick

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2009, 04:29:56 pm »
Slickmick

I take it you are in Australia now?  The "land of Oz" for us in the states is Kansas--as in "Wizard of Oz".  a little confusing, been wondering why you had SHB in Kansas and no one else has!!!!

Sorry for the confusion there ArmucheeBee, but Oz in our terms refers to this great big island a few thousand kilometres to the south west of you guys. ;)

I admit some concern if I have to start feeding as I now understand that the SHB chases the pollen stores and any pollen patties that are used. How do you guys deal with feeding pollen patties and the SHB?

Offline ArmucheeBee

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2009, 08:15:07 pm »
Bill

You're breaking my heart.  I thought you all were still freeze of this.  I bet they don't over-winter well.  You could take some needle-nose pliers out there on a semi-warm day in Feb. and get rid of some staying in the cluster!!!!!!!!!!!
Stephen Stewart
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Offline BULLSEYE BILL

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2009, 10:28:10 pm »
Since I use Permacomb and HSC exclusively I carry a 10d nail and just smash them when I see them in the cell.

Offline ArmucheeBee

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Re: SHB traps in Nucs and bee behaviour to the SHB
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2009, 10:38:12 am »
I do the same. I use MannLake Pf120 plastic and it makes smashing easy.  I have a special little screwdriver for it. that was supposed to say "free" not "freeze"-above.
Stephen Stewart
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"You don't need a license to drive a sandwich."  SpongeBob Squarepants