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Author Topic: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...  (Read 25506 times)

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #20 on: March 21, 2013, 01:11:03 am »
Please overlook my crappy workmanship...a fingernail clipper knife, a stapler, and scissors were the tools. :o

I've been thinking of modifying Intheswamp's Simple Oil Tray (ISOT) screened bottom boards with the hope of them causing more shb to fall into the oil tray below.  I've found that beetles are rather adept at walking across #8 mesh while some are simply too large to go through the mesh opening.  My thoughts have been to build something akin to a shb obstacle course at the entrance.  I've gotta admit that Beetle Jail was an inspiration for this...they have some *really* nice traps.

Anyhow, I removed part of the #8 mesh screening and replaced it with the flashing.  Armed with my high tech tools I cut some slits in a piece of flashing and bent the metal apart there to create gaps.  I bent the metal so that when a beetle passes through the main entrance of the hive that it will run into a staggered series of slits.  As the beetle enters through the entrance the leading edge of the slits bends downward toward the oil tray, the back edge of the slits are bent upwards.  Naturally this will be a dark area that hopefully will be attractive to the beetle.  If the beetle enters the slit there is only a thin edge to the metal which the beetle should have trouble holding on to.  The size of the opening was eyeballed....hopefully it's about right...it's about 1/8" but long.

This will only work for beetles entering "on the floor".  It will not work for the ones crawling down the front of the hive and entering through the top of the entrance.  I'm hoping that the bees will knock the beetles down to the floor either inside or outside of the hive making them have to walk inside.  I'm curious as to how well a beetle can circumvent the thin edge of the flashing, though.  If the beetles have a problem (they lose their grip and fall off) with the thin edge it may be that I can add a thin strip of flashing along the bottom edge of the bottom brood box at the entrance...if a beetle crawls down the outside of the hive when it gets to that edge it may fall off and have to travel the obstacle course.

Here's some pictures of the bottom board with the flashing installed to give you an idea of what I'm doing.  I've still got to add the shims under the rails for room for the oil tray.  Who knows, it might work!...if it does the next version will look nicer!   :laugh:







Ed
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #21 on: March 21, 2013, 06:37:02 am »
Ed,
That is unique. If I could make one recommendation, most of the beetles that do get into the hive are usually around the edge if the hive. I try to keep the edge as thin as possible. A friend of mine who manufactures hives took my design and eliminated the edge all together by making the sides 3/4" shorter and stapled the #8 wire cloth to the top of the sides and added a 3/4"x3/4" boards on top of the wire cloth. I do not personally do it, I make my side strips 3/8" wide by 3/4" deep and glue and nail it to the side.
The bees are constantly harassing the beetles. In my OB hive, When they get knocked off of a frame they fall into the bees and get attacked all the way till they get to the bottom where, if they hit the screen, they go through it to get away from the bees.
Let us know how we'll I works. You will be able to tell how we'll the front section is working by the number of SHB in the front of the oil tray.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline Joe D

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #22 on: March 21, 2013, 11:39:19 am »
We will try almost anything to combat the SHBs.     Check out what some of our Aussie Friends are doing.  Putting a folded paper towel above the frames.  I don't know how to link it, but its on the top of downunder beek topics.  No chemicals and seems to help.



Joe





Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #23 on: March 21, 2013, 12:12:13 pm »
Jim, I agree with you on the "ledge" on the inside of the bottom board.  I purchased these Rossman scbb's before I was "enlightened". :)  I'm hoping one day to set up a tablesaw and do some of my own woodworking.  Dadant seems to have a "no-ledge" design for there scbb's but a few dollars more.  The ideal thing is to make your own, if you're able.  :-\ 

I've thought about getting some triangular or concave shaped wood molding and installing it along the ledge.  When the beetle falls it might give it just enough direction to it's bounce to send it out onto the screen.  I'll look at that today and see if it would violate bee space anywhere...I don't think it would be a problem, though.

Yelp, I figure it will be easy to tell if the slots are working....self-marking. :)

Joe, I saw the mention of the "chux" wipes.  I pulled "chux" up on the internet and that's a brand down-yonder with lots of products under the brand.  I wonder, are bees legs simply not "bristley" enough to get hung up in the fibers?  Looking at the picture in that thread it looks like what we call "Handi-Wipes"....kind of an open weave design.

Ed
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Moots

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #24 on: March 21, 2013, 12:40:08 pm »

Joe, I saw the mention of the "chux" wipes.  I pulled "chux" up on the internet and that's a brand down-yonder with lots of products under the brand.  I wonder, are bees legs simply not "bristley" enough to get hung up in the fibers?  Looking at the picture in that thread it looks like what we call "Handi-Wipes"....kind of an open weave design.

Ed

Ed,
I kind of looked into the whole wipes SHB method a while back when I was in heavy research mode.  From what I remember, those that use it claim their is some bee loss but that it's a small price to pay for the SHB control.

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #25 on: March 21, 2013, 04:00:30 pm »
Joe and Moots, I think I'm going by the dollar store this afternoon and see what they offer.  I think this might be just what I've been looking for for a problem area in my multifaceted approach to shb protection.  I normally keep the top of my inner covers "bee free"...the feeder holes are screened w/#8 and any entry slots are blocked.  Covering the feeder holes with window screening to keep beetles out results in them getting sealed with propolis fairly quickly.  I'm thinking that a layer of the "chux" carpeting the top of the inner board (with a cutout for the feeder holes) might just be the ticket to continue using the #8 mesh but have a deadly "field of play" for the beetles.

I also read where a guy had used the "chux" inside a CD case...and had some success.  That might be another in-hive weapon.

Hmm, I'm really starting to like the idea of carpeting the inner cover!!!  That would cover me top, middle (beetle jail jrs), and bottom (oil tray).  Now I've got to decide which hive to dedicate to a shb research hive. ;)  ...the neighboring hives will probably get "bling envy".

Ed
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Offline Joe D

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #26 on: March 21, 2013, 09:07:46 pm »
Thinking about trying some wipes below and above the supers.




Joe

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #27 on: March 21, 2013, 09:18:52 pm »
I just don't like the idea of the bees getting caught up in it, too.  Are you figuring on putting the "chux" in cd cases?

Ed
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #28 on: March 23, 2013, 12:03:47 am »
Well, I had to go to monkeytown today.   I found out that Target and Costco do not have Handi-Wipes nor any facsimile of them.  I stopped at a Dollar Tree and this is what I came up with...for a dollar.....eight Scrub Buddies!!!!!  :-D 

The size should cover almost the entire inner cover.  I figure I'll cut a flap out for the feeder holes and fold it under the wipe....if I want to cover the feeder hole I can just pull the flap out from beneath the wipe.  I'm going to wash them good and wring them out some and generally abuse them some to fuzzyfy them before installing in the hives.  Maybe being a cheap chinese knockoff they'll fuzz even more than the Chux or Handi-Wipes!  It will be interesting to see what happens.   Ed

www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #29 on: March 23, 2013, 12:33:08 am »
Ed,
I think you will find that the oil pan will kill thousands of SHB. If you have them on every hive you will eventually see your population drop because all of the larvae end up in the oil and none get together into the soil and turn into beetles. Hopefully you do not have a apiary nearby that is not using them and are breeding DHB like crazy.
Jim
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Ben Franklin

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #30 on: March 29, 2013, 01:34:01 am »
Well, I have scrapped the runners on the bottom of the trays.  It just didn't work out for me and the cheap epoxy that I used.  Maybe some better glue would've worked...?  What I've done is add a strip of wood on top of the shims so that the lip of the oil tray rides on it close to the bottom of the bottom board.  There's no way that a bee can get through the gap between the tray and bottom board.  I like this setup better.





I actually added some thin shims to this but I think it was good enough like this.

Something else I did was address the "ledge" along the sides of the bottom board that the screen is stapled to.  My concern was that a beetle or mite could land on that flat ledge and climb back up.  I added the triangular pieces of wood figuring they might help to direct the "bounce" of the pest out onto the screen over the oil tray.  The back ledge is much smaller so I added nothing to it.  Here's a couple of shots of ISOT with some "bling" added to it. :)





Hopefully I can slip this board under one of my hives this weekend and start testing it out.  Oh, I almost forgot...the issue of water entering the oil tray.  I've was going to order a Sunsetter retractable awning  :-D but decided instead to put a metal awning up.  I don't have a picture of it, but it's simply a sheet of flashing several inches wider than the hives are wide and only about 6" long.  It is bent at a 90-degree angle the length of it so that one leg of the bend is long enough to extend over the edge of the porch.  Three frame nails or staples and it's attached to the front of the hive.  I crimped the long edges and folded and crimped the corners...it is rigid enough to handle a heavy rain.  We'll see how it works...

The next ISOT will hopefully be much cleaner than this one as this was the trial-and-error one.  All of this is probably overkill, but with only a few hives I can afford the luxury of tinkering.   Hopefully, by the time I build up my hive count I will have streamlined these mods....if they work. ;)

Ed
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #31 on: April 10, 2013, 08:50:47 pm »
Well, I think I messed up and put the ISOT under the colony that has the least problem with beetles.  This colony is one we cut out of a stable at an old dairy site last summer.  When the plywood was removed to reveal the comb and bees there was a gang of bees that had probably 30-40 (maybe more?) shb's corralled a good piece from the comb...it was very interesting how they had them herded together in a group.

Anyhow, I ended up putting the ISOT beneath this colony which has few beetles.  I put mineral oil in the tray last Saturday and had looked a couple of days ago and saw no beetles in the tray.  This morning when I looked there were three beetles in the oil...all of them were in the area of the slitted flashing and none beyond that toward the back.  That's only three beetles but it looks like the slits get at least some of them as they come in the entrance.  I'll post more results when I see something worthy to report.

Ed

ETA...I added a small "awning" to the front of the hive.  The bees seem to accept it fine.  This will hopefully keep rain water from entering the oil tray.  The best solution I think is Fatbeeman's where he nudges the tray back away from the front a little bit so that rain simply falls through the screen to the ground.  I'm thinking of ways of accomplishing this with a shorter tray.    We're supposed to get HEAVY BLOWING RAIN tomorrow and tomorrow night so we'll see how it works.  ;)

www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Simple oil tray mod for sbb's...
« Reply #32 on: June 18, 2014, 01:10:23 am »
I've updated the ISOT to the ISOT II <grin>.  You can find the newer version here:  http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,44893.new.html#new
www.beeweather.com 
American blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world.  320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror".  Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA.  But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they wont come to yours." - Yogi Berra