Author Topic: Just found SHB in my hive. (Read 13000 times)

Culley · « **Reply #20 on:** December 30, 2015, 03:55:59 am »

Quote from: Michael Bush on December 29, 2015, 11:37:35 am

You guys really thing that putting insecticides in a bee hive is a good idea?

No, but maybe temporarily, and here's the context. Where I keep bees, SHB were a like a plague. We have the perfect storm of warm weather and high rainfall and humidity. We have the second highest rainfall in the state, with an annual mean rainfall of around 2330mm. There are organic orchards nearby which harbor the SHB in rotting fruit. For several years, the SHB destroyed 80% of the colonies in the area. We also lost the majority of the hives, and weren't left with many.

I took over management of the bees from a family member as the SHB came to my area, and tried non-chemical management for a number of years. I tried oil trays under the hives, I tried sealing every crack available in the hives, I tried DE and lime and vinegar in the traps, I tried entrance reducers, putting hives in full sun, only keeping large population hives, I tried chux wipes, I tried various plastic traps from beekeeping suppliers.

After some years of this, and losing most of the hives, I decided to try the 'conventional' method of control, build the number of colonies back up, and eventually develop a non-chemical management when I have enough hives to experiment with.

Your mileage may vary.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #21 on:** December 30, 2015, 04:43:28 pm »

>How do you manage them Michael?

I don't. For whatever reason (low humidity, bitter cold winters, clay soil) they don't thrive here. But places where they do I know a lot of people who just try to keep strong hives (read: good density of bees) and have no issues. What I would NOT do is put insecticide in my bee hive...

Wombat2 · « **Reply #22 on:** December 30, 2015, 09:46:22 pm »

Hey Culley your organic farmers cant be very serious as organic control in orchards requires collection of fallen fruit on a daily basis to prevent pests breeding. Here is a rough diagram of the new bottom board I am building based on a couple of designs that showed me what was working and not working and where to modify to produce this.

Theory is SHB mainly enter late afternoon The guard bees harass but don't prevent all SHB getting in - the SHB duck for cover under the aluminum strip near the entrance and fall through the slit into the trap. ( this solves the problem of returning bees scraping pollen off on a mesh covered trap) Those SHB that make it in head for dark places and all the time are chased by bees and end up at the back end and will at some point fall down or end up on the bottom board half of which is metal mesh (gutterguard ) covered hole over an oil trap. I use shallow baking trays for traps and run my bottom board cleats front to back with top inside edges rebated to take lip of the tray. I then fasten the cleats to the board at the right distance for the tray - trays are removed to the rear.

LKBruns · « **Reply #23 on:** December 30, 2015, 09:55:01 pm »

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #24 on:** December 31, 2015, 12:37:39 am »

Quote from: Michael Bush on December 30, 2015, 04:43:28 pm

>How do you manage them Michael?

I don't. For whatever reason (low humidity, bitter cold winters, clay soil) they don't thrive here. But places where they do I know a lot of people who just try to keep strong hives (read: good density of bees) and have no issues. What I would NOT do is put insecticide in my bee hive...

Michael,
SHB do not survive in your area because they cannot survive a freeze during any part of there life cycle. The only ones that survive during the winter are the ones in your hives.
Down here the ground almost never freezes, and never does 4" below the surface where the larva molt.
You probably do not have much rotting fruit which is there alternate to a hive for laying their eggs.
Jim

max2 · « **Reply #25 on:** December 31, 2015, 12:43:15 am »

Quote from: Sydney guy on December 29, 2015, 08:14:44 pm

How do you manage them Michael? Poison would be my last resort.

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I don't think Michael has to deal with SHB but I agree with his sentiment

Michael Bush · « **Reply #26 on:** December 31, 2015, 12:59:46 pm »

I generally stay out of discussions because while we have SHB (and I've seen a few) they are not a problem here, and it's not anything I'm doing. They aren't a problem for anyone I know. Other than being more careful when harvesting (not letting things sit around) I don't do anything. But if I lived where they were a problem, insecticides would not be my solution...

yantabulla · « **Reply #27 on:** January 01, 2016, 05:10:07 am »

My self imposed break from this forum has been very therapeutic.

I respect everyone's decision whether or not to use treatments like Apithor in their hives.

I have used it since it was available as per the instructions and I have never had a hive slimed. My hives are level from side to side and sloping to the front.

When I want to change the trap I put a fresh bottom board in with the new Apithor trap attached.

I would rather have any moisture from the traps running out the bottom board than over the tops or the sides of frames.

I cannot be bothered stuffing around with chux cloths, oil traps, DE, fishing tackle boxes and all the other SHB thought bubbles.

My hives are situated in SHB central, the mid north coast of NSW.

Advising others to use it in contravention of the manufacturers instructions is stupid and irresponsible.

https://www.apithor.com.au/how_to_use_apithor.html

Bad advice.

Culley · « **Reply #28 on:** January 01, 2016, 05:58:34 am »

Yantabulla, how often do you change them?

Have you had much trouble with bees propolising the gaps closed?

yantabulla · « **Reply #29 on:** January 01, 2016, 06:45:35 am »

I have put fresh ones in most of my hives in the last month or two. It cools down at my location (Nana Glen) over the winter and beetles are not active as the temperature is below what is required for egg hatching so I wouldn't put new ones in until the start of August.

Manufacturers recommendations is every 3 months.

They will block them up if you leave them in over winter but not if you replace them twice over the summer months.

Culley · « **Reply #30 on:** January 01, 2016, 07:44:13 pm »

I have cleaned the propolis off and re-used them. They seem to be good for between 12-24 months for me. My hives are near Nimbin so similar climate to you yantabulla. Very high rainfall and good conditions for SHB.

yantabulla · « **Reply #31 on:** January 02, 2016, 04:45:42 am »

Culley the recommended time is three months. You can get a way with longer over the colder months in our area. Two years is well beyond the capability of the product.

https://www.apithor.com.au/how_to_use_apithor.html

Sydney guy · « **Reply #32 on:** January 19, 2016, 08:11:26 am »

Hi just thought I would share an update with my progress of fighting the SHB. I checked my hives on the 10/1/16 and the number of SHB were very high and the Chux trapped about 40 in each hive. I was happy with the Chux but still the numbers seem to be increasing to fast so I installed the apithor traps. I checked the hives again today and to my surprise there was not a single SHB. I looked everywhere to try find one but nothing. Sad I had to use the Apithor but very happy with the results.

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PhilK · « **Reply #33 on:** January 19, 2016, 11:27:29 pm »

I received two nucs in November, and they had outgrown their 5 frame nuc boxes so were put in full 10 frame deeps. When transferring them out of the suppliers boxes and into ours there were so many beetles I was really worried about how they'd go. I got one of the plastic traps with oil to hang off the top bars of the frame, and I also got an Apithor trap for each hive.

On the next inspection I didn't see a single beetle, and there was only about 5 in the frame traps - maybe pesticides can be bad in beehives, but for me the Apithor trap was nothing short of excellent!

(Now that both hives are really full and strong I have removed the Apithor trap)

Honeycomb king · « **Reply #34 on:** January 28, 2016, 03:59:00 am »

Just another push for people to try integrated pest management of there hives with the use of Labidura truncata (brown earwig).
I've been through 300 hives this week and have seen only about a dozen small hive beetle. I think it's time we reloaded our hives with earwig.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #35 on:** January 28, 2016, 12:13:12 pm »

I would if I could.

I think Uncle Sam would bee very upset if I brought some into the states.

I do see a lot of the black ones in the STB's and SBB's. I have stopped killing them. I hope they also eat the SHB.
Jim

RoyalTummy · « **Reply #36 on:** January 28, 2016, 02:05:48 pm »

Place hives in Full sun always, salt around the perimeter of the colonies, quick inspections or try fewer as the beetles run and hide when disturbed, SBB and mineral oil in a tray(best), window screen wedged into front entrance to get full ventilation and leave only enough opening to not slow the bees coming and going, extract only only what you can finish in a 24hr period so no eggs will hatch, no use of inner covers, traps set out around apiary and freeze them every night, always mash and kill as many as you can when you see them.
This certainly applies to all nucs and newly established hives and expect them also in packages.
If you have ever have been slimed once, your hatred for them will grow. Mites are so much easier to deal with. And no one even mentions wax moths any longer since Zentari came about.

Steampunked · « **Reply #37 on:** January 28, 2016, 08:47:23 pm »

Is there any truth to rumours that running chickens in under and around the hives stops the larvae in the ground? It works for a couple of vegetable pests I have (like pearslug), and I've heard of people doing it but don't know the success rate.

Honeycomb king · « **Reply #38 on:** January 29, 2016, 08:13:27 am »

Makes sense. Our chooks love wax moth larvae, I didn't put bay leaf in a few stacks of stored combs this year, so when I got to them this summer they were full of moth and larvae. Bad or lazy beekeeping on my behalf, but the chooks sure did benefit.

Wombat2 · « **Reply #39 on:** February 03, 2016, 08:58:31 pm »

Don't know about our chooks getting the lava even though they have the run of the place. The lava are supposed to burrow down 9" to pupate at the right temperature so the chooks will miss a lot - they don't dig that deep.

The only chemical I use near the hive is lawn grub killer (cockchafer) available from garden places. Sprinkle around the hive - mainly under the entrance and out a bit - water well in or do when raining - that way it dissolves into the soil and wont affect the bees if they land on it. I do it every six months and it helps break the life cycle by killing grubs going in and any beetles coming out of the ground.