Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DISEASE & PEST CONTROL => Topic started by: FloridaGardener on March 30, 2019, 01:24:51 am
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The SBB has a 2x2 rim around it, and a solid bottom to catch what falls through. Over the solid bottom, I leave a piece of waxed paper or parchment sprayed with cooking oil, to make any SHB stick if they fall through. The debris gives me a reading on what is happening inside.
Here's the guessing game: What do you see in this batch?
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It looks to me like you put an old frame in the hive and the bees are cleaning it out or they are just cleaning out an old frame from last year. They are also making wax, see the clear pieces. They are also bringing in a lot of pollen and dropping some.
Jim Altmiller
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Yes! And...no SHB. No ants. No varroa mites. Yay!
They have treatment-free foundationless top bar comb. I took hi-res photos of the bars during a 20-min hive inspection yesterday and zoomed in and studied the photos...no piggybackers, and no red mites in the cells.
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I think this is why there are no SHB under my SBB. He's there every time. If you ask me, he's looking kinda pudgy, so he's doing his job.
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There are small almost clear wax flakes the fell from bees' abdomens before they turned them into comb. There are pollen pellets. There are chewed out cocoons. There are bits of cappings. Two or three mouse droppings. A few pieces of some kind of plant matter. A couple of things that might be wax moth droppings, but not enough to be certain.
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Aha! The critter scat may be from this Cuban brown anole. Around here, our mice are rat-sized, leaving scat 1/2" or larger. Anoles live a few years, eating moths, beetles, and larvae. Perhaps varroa.
They're territorial, so maybe I could plant one under each hive as an IPM technique. They're sold as pets, can be as smart as birds, and have some long term memory.
This little guy isn't named yet. Suggestions appreciated!