BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > DISEASE & PEST CONTROL

Small hive beetles

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FredBorn:
At what point do you start treating for small hive beetles. When I worked my hives this aftrnoon 3 of the 4 hives had 4 or 5 (that I saw and killed)small hive beetles - which is kinda normal for me. One hive however had 20 + (that I saw and killed).

I've been trying to stay away from serious chemicals (only been using powdered suger and  food grade mineral oil for mites).

At what point do the number of shb pose a serios problem to the hive. The hive is well populated and seems to be doing well otherwise.

I resently bought a small hive beetle trap from dadant to see if they would work -  put it one the first hive I worked today - which only had a few beetles - unfortuately the hive with the really bad beetles was the last one I worked and I already had the trap set up on the other hive.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

fred citrus county Florida

Robo:
Fred,

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it,  we don't have any members with SHB experience here.  Or at least non that have spoken up.  

I don't have any experience, but it is my understanding that the beetles destroy the comb and frames.  Did you notice any damage in the hive?

I for one would be interested in hearing how well the SHB trap works.  I know it seems labor intensive and probably impratical form someone with many hives.  But it does perhaps offer a non-pesticide solution for the hobbyist.  

Please keep us informed of how things go.

Phoenix:
Unfortunately, I just discovered the other day that my weak hive is infested with SHB.  I picked up a trap today and plan on installing it tomorrow, I hope it takes care of the problem before they spread to my other hives.

Robo:
Phoenix,

How horrible.  Do you have any idea of how you got them?  Seems like you are quite far North.  Did you start with package bees?  I have heard accounts of people getting infested with SHB that came in package bees.

Phoenix:
Robo,

This hive happened to be a split from a hive that has wintered 3 seasons here with no medication.  They happened to swarm six weeks after I got them, leaving it queenless, and greatly reducing it's strength.  

I called Dadant in our area and they told me SHB were prevelant here in Michigan.

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