Small hive Beetles

[Blacksheep]

Well I just returned from a feeding round and found I have lost a fairly good size hive to SHB's as they are thousand of larvae and the bees are gone!
This hive is in a remote site and was on a solid bottom board.I saw something early on in the week that I didn't know what was going on  but it was cappings  at the entrance which I guess the bees were moving some stores to their new home where ever that might be?
I did learn some thing and hope to be wiser next time !We have had a heavy Beetle hatch out this year lots more than I have seen in the last 3 years!
Guess that is Bee Keeping!! I plan on taking some Strong Bleach water and putting the frames under water to kill the larvae and then will melt down the wax!

[GSF]

I've seen more beetles this year than before.

[bwallace23350]

I have not seen any in my bees but I am not 100% sure how to find them. But my bees always look healthy and the hives look like pictures of healthy hives I have seen

[Blacksheep]

The beetles are small and Black and are fast on foot as well as they can fly!Hard shell so the bees can't sting them but they do corner them and hold them off.If the hive gets weak or to much room they will lay their eggs and when the larvae hatch they start making a big mess in the hive and the bees leave it as they don't like anything in the hive!

[Beeboy01]

The SHB's will attack a hive at night and over whelm the guard bees with thousands of beetles. close down your entrance as tight as possible and if you have any Mite Away strips use them at the entrance to the hive.
  I lost five strong hives three years ago to SHB's and the Mite Away strips were the only way I saved my last hive. It's war when they invade a hive, a small population in a hive is different than a full out invasion.

[Blacksheep]

I know they are hard to deal with for sure!The hive I lost was my fault in most respects.It was a trap out and I left them in place so they could robb out the old hive which was in the living room of a old colonial home.They didn't start to rob out the old hive until the flow stopped and then they went into it and started to clean it out.I guess the beetles found a chance to over run the guards and did so very fast.I had bees 3 days ago but today all were gone.It is very apparent that the beetles ran them off as lots of Larvae in the hive.I am going back to it in the morning and have a new waste can and will surmerge each frame in water with about 1 gallon of Bleach which kills them fairly quickly.The hive is a new boxes and frames so i WILL CLEAN THEM AND MELT DOWN THE COMBS.

[BeeMaster2]

Blacksheep,
I do the same thing with a little bit of soap instead of Clorox and then I rinse them out real good with a hose and let them dry in my workshop. Then I give the good ones back to the bees. You can probably cut back on the bleach quite a bit and then when everything is dead rinse them out and let them dry. Then you can reuse them.
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

Make sure you get all of the larvae. Every one that makes it to the soil will pupate and bee back in your hives.
Jim

[Blacksheep]

After submerging the frames in Strong Bleach water I cut all the comb and what honey that was there and took that to the dump!I have the frames out in the sun on my driveway which is concrete to dry and kill any eggs.I smashed every larva I saw.I hate those bugs!This was a large colony and they had quite a bit of stores  but it was spoiled by the beetles.
The Larva are really hard to kill but I am at war with them!Ha 

[Lancej]

I have been looking at a new way of controlling SHB, someone has came up with using a sheet of steel/aluminium about 1mm/0.04 inch thick, punched half a dozen holes in it, about 50mm round then used a dimple punch on the holes. This is placed in timber as a shim between the bottom board and the bottom brood box. The SHB can't bend around the dimple holes when climbing and keep falling off. This does not kill them, but stops them entering your hive. I found this interesting as well http://www.beeculture.com/small-hive-beetles/

[SlickMick]

That's an excellent article, Lance!

Unfortunately I am unable to visualise the device you describe and would really like more information on it. Are you able to attach a photo or sketch of it as it seems to be useful in keeping the SHB outside the hive

Mick

[Lancej]

Hi Mick,
I might be a tradie, but I still can't draw. I could not find the site that sells them, it was in the states for about $20 each plus freight. Did a quick sketch and hope this helps. As you can see very simple.

[Nugget Shooter]

Man I am glad that we do not see SHB here in the desert and I feel for you all, what a nightmare. From what I have been told by other beekeepers her our broiling hot soil all day long and the many different species of ants that mob anything that hits the ground the beetles can not pupate in the 130 degree surface soil and are killed. If the heat doesn't get them the ants will when in the soil so perhaps the ants that are such a pain in the butt to work around are a blessing in disguise?

I sure hope I never have to deal with SHB, but watch for it as well as other pests.....

[rober]

we've had unusually wet weather here & beetle populations are up. I use division board feeders & use wood strips for floats. the beetles will hide in the feeders when i'm not using them. I now take a bucket & a jug of water along when I inspect hives. I put in an inch of water with bleach & liquid dish soap in the bucket.  the bleach helps kill the beetles. before I pull the board feeders I pour some soapy water into them. this renders the beetles flightless. I then pull the feeders & dump the beetles into the bucket. this year in hives that have beetles I see 2-10 when I open them but there are 15-30 in the feeders. the problem I had with oil trays is that I was killing more bees than beetles with them. I treat the soil with diatomaceous earth but that needs to be applied every time it rains. I've not lost a hive yet to beetles but did have some comb invaded in a hive that absconded that I did not get around to removing from the yard for a few days. beetles & moths are opportunists & will quickly overrun comb in weak or empty hives.
here's a gadget that might help.
http://www.beetlebaffle.com/Installation/installation.html

[Beeboy01]

I've taken a piece of 1/4 inch screen that is attached to wood frame which sits over a shallow plastic container with soapy water  in it maybe 10 inches wide and 16 long. When inspecting the hives I'll pull the two outer frames and if they have any beetles on them I'll smack the frames on the screen hard enough to dislodge the beetles which drop through the screen into the soapy water. It's a quick way to kill them during an inspection. If there are a lot of beetles in a hive I will come back three or four times in a week which really reduces their population. After loosing most of my hives to beetles a few years ago I really hate them and will go out of my way to kill them.

[SlickMick]

Hi Mick,
I might be a tradie, but I still can't draw. I could not find the site that sells them, it was in the states for about $20 each plus freight. Did a quick sketch and hope this helps. As you can see very simple.

Hi Lance,
Read your sketch fine. Thanks for going to the trouble.
I assume the bees come up through the centre of the holes and the SHB can't get past the lip.

Mick

[Lancej]

Hi Mick,
That's about it, I have since my last post come across another method, a strip of sheetmetal all around the bottom board with a bend in it. The beetles fly in the hive, crawl up the side of the bottom board and hit a bit of sheetmetal pointing down which they have trouble getting around and fall off.
Lance

[Blacksheep]

I also use the baffle around the bottom of my screened bottom boards and it has oil pan and when beetles fall in it kills them.Seems like the main flow of beetles has slowed down since I don't see as many now in the pans.I use the Micro Fiber cloth on top of the frames and in some I have the beetle blasters with apple cider vinegar and oil also hives are on old metal roofing and elevated about 8 inches off the ground.

[KD4MOJ]

Hi Mick,
That's about it, I have since my last post come across another method, a strip of sheetmetal all around the bottom board with a bend in it. The beetles fly in the hive, crawl up the side of the bottom board and hit a bit of sheetmetal pointing down which they have trouble getting around and fall off.
Lance

Here is something similar but it looks like they are just sticking out and not pointing down. Has anyone done anything like in the video? SHB killed me last year and it looks like it's going the same way this year...

https://youtu.be/FfnefkJSfBs

...DOUG
KD4MOJ