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Author Topic: SHB survive is oil trays??  (Read 3412 times)

Offline dprater

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SHB survive is oil trays??
« on: May 12, 2013, 06:04:27 pm »
Please tell me I did not see what I saw. This morning I pulled my plastic corrugated sheets to check for Varroa Mites ( not too bad) but I saw  8 or so small 1/4" long larvae that I think are SHB larvae on the corrugated sheet, although I only see 2 to maybe 5 SHB when I go through this hive. One of 6 hives.
Here is the killer. I had oil trays with vegtable oil in them so I was sure I would find lots of larvae in the oil trays. Well to my supprise I saw 10 or more larvae alive and going in (yes under the oil) and back out of the oil and up the side of my trays and then back down in the oil, as though they were eating pollen and other bee stuff. I watch this for 15 minutes or so and found no dead larvae in the tray at all. What the hack is going on here?? I dumped out the oil and replaced  it with water and dishwashing dertergent  to see how that works?

Supprised Danny


Offline Joe D

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2013, 01:32:10 am »
I can be entirely wrong, but here goes, I think the oil trays is to get the SHB's, their larva is harder to kill I think.  I have seen the larva crawl around in a pan of water, didn't bother them at all.  You need to keep SHB's down and not see larva.  As for the soap and water, I think I have heard soapy solutions can kill bees.  Good luck and may you get a better answer.



Joe

Offline melliferal

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2013, 02:01:34 am »
Try motor oil perhaps?
Recently moved; re-keeping in 2014.

Offline Better.to.Bee.than.not

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2013, 02:51:20 am »
how about salt water? the salt may have the effect of drying them out/dehydrating them?
don't think the salt water should kill the bees. but I think I might be concerned that any water would add a lot of moisture to the hive?

If it was warm out, I think I'd probably leave the oil tray off, except when dusting with powdered sugar for mites, the larvae then maybe fall through the wire mesh, and let ants carry them away.

Offline RHBee

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2013, 02:01:18 am »
www.greenbeehives.com

Danny,
I fought with SHB all last year. The only thing that worked for me was vegetable oil. Water and soap evaporates very fast and I found it hard to keep on top of. The larvae will suffocate due to the oilit just takes a while. I have seen the adult SHB crawl out of the oil pan but die because their ability to breathe has been plugged. When I first put the pans under my hives i had to clean them out regularly.
The plans for these traps can be found on the above site.




Later,
Ray

Offline dprater

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2013, 05:31:31 am »
Yes I thought about about the evaporation of the water but I'm just grabbing for straws here. I went threw this hive yesterday and found less that 12 SHB but found something worse, laying workers and no Queen. So I'm probably going to shake them out, freeze the frames and share the frames with other hives.

Dang it's always something with this bee keeping thing. This is my second year and I'm already thinking of throwing in the towel. Every feel this way?

Why did I become a beek?
Danny

Offline Maryland Beekeeper

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2013, 09:30:58 am »
 FGMO in SHB traps, it will kill larva 2

Offline melliferal

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2013, 09:56:41 am »
You're looking at it from the wrong direction.  Don't think of it as there's always something you have to do.  There's always something you get to do!  Bees would be pretty boring if you had a hive that was always perfect all the time don't you think?  But no, plenty of opportunities for mental and physical exercise. Sometimes you get to play to play mystery detective, sometimes you get to play farmer, sometimes you get to play emergency physician.  Sometimes you get to rescue your fellow humans single handedly from what they see as a horde of stinging death-bugs, and then afterwards throw in an educational PSA about the importance of bees, Superman-style.  How many hobbies offer such a depth of experience?
Recently moved; re-keeping in 2014.

Offline sterling

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2013, 12:07:35 pm »
Dehydrated lime works good but it will kill bees so you have to have the trays bee proof. You can also put the lime on the ground around  the hive.

Offline RHBee

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2013, 12:47:03 pm »
This is my second year and I'm already thinking of throwing in the towel. Every feel this way?

Why did I become a beek?
Danny


No quit here. I'm kinda bull headed. Don't get me wrong there are times when I get discouraged, frustrated and even angry. It's usually because of some thing that I don't know how to handle. Bailey really helped me out when he told me that I worry to much. It dawned on me that he was right. I bet every beekeeper has felt all these things at one point or another. Even Finski didn't start out all knowing. You gotta learn by screwing up and then accepting what happened and moving on. This uncontrollable loss of half my bees has been pretty discouraging for me but I bet that by next year it won't happen again.

As for why you became a beekeeper, only you can answer that. For me it was the first time I saw a swarm about 5 years ago. They were very calm bees and very pretty I was at work and no one knew what to do with them. I just watched from a distance but I knew that I wanted to know more. Then I heard that bees were going thru bad times. I just want to help. Here I am.
Later,
Ray

Offline dprater

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2013, 10:09:02 pm »
Well I guess I did let it get to me a little yesterday, now I know a little more about bees like what to look for when it comes to laying workers.  I do like the adventure of it all and have enjoyed learning about the wonderful life of bees. I do stop by everyday on my way to my garden and watch them coming and going, so I'm sure I'm hooked, just had a bobble yesterday. Had to work late today so tomorrow I will find out what a shake out is like.  :)


Thanks all
Danny

Offline tecumseh

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #11 on: May 15, 2013, 07:32:05 am »
with the right/wrong oil the shb will actually prosper quite well in those traps.... which is good reason enough for me not to use them.
I am 'the panther that passes in the night'... tecumseh.

Offline RHBee

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Re: SHB survive is oil trays??
« Reply #12 on: May 15, 2013, 08:54:42 am »
with the right/wrong oil the shb will actually prosper quite well in those traps.... which is good reason enough for me not to use them.

Really,  what kind oil are you using? All I've ever found are dead beatles in the oil tray.
Later,
Ray

 

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