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Author Topic: SHB thoughts  (Read 1906 times)

Offline Sundog

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SHB thoughts
« on: June 25, 2020, 03:26:20 pm »
I lost a startup to SHBs on Memorial Day.  Watched them swarm in my yard and sail off over the house into the distance.  Wife said, ?At least you got to wave good-bye!?  Gotta love her...

Collected hundreds of beetles in the oil tray beneath the hive, but the colony was not yet strong and they gave up and departed.

I?m thinking screened bottom boards with 10/ inch screens and trays may be counterproductive.  That they let more bugs in than they eliminate.

Thinking about replacing the tenth inch screen with regular window screening and wondering if the screen is small enough to keep the SHBs out.  Thinking to use a small entrance and a tight hive and some blasters.

Anybody know if the SHB can get through standard aluminum window screening?

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: SHB thoughts
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2020, 08:56:30 pm »
Sundog,
SHBs definitely cannot go through window screen.
SHBs don?t go up through the Screen bottom. They go through the front entrance or cracks on the sides/tops of the hives. They are not great acrobatic fliers.
Since you have oil trays, why not stick with them. I have killed tens of thousands of SHBs when I used them.
Jim Altmiller
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline Garigal

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Re: SHB thoughts
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2020, 08:21:56 am »
I ran screened bottoms last summer.

I saw beetles going up through the wire.

I saw beetles get chased out through the wire only to do a U-turn and go straight back in.

People say beetles can't get in through screened bottom boards and I believed it too until I watched it happen. The only good thing was the screen gave the bees somewhere to eject all the SHB larvae that almost destroyed their brood nest (coincidentally I had a tray of water under the hive due to a heatwave so most of them drowned).

I have recently started using these: https://hiverly.com/guide/

There's no SHB around to test it out but based on other peoples experience they work very well.