Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Black widows in the apiary?  (Read 1290 times)

Offline Bob Wilson

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1100
  • Gender: Male
Black widows in the apiary?
« on: September 16, 2020, 09:48:53 pm »
Twice now I have found black widows under or around my hives. Anyone else got a lot of spiders?

Offline cao

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1678
  • Gender: Male
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2020, 09:58:16 pm »
No black widows here but I have seen a few banana spiders putting webs around my hives.

Offline The15thMember

  • Global Moderator
  • Galactic Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 4426
  • Gender: Female
  • Traveler of the Multiverse, Seeker of Knowledge
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2020, 11:19:37 pm »
No widows for me, but definitely spiders.  It's that time of year, and I can barely walk up to the hives without getting caught in webs.  We have a lot of orb-weavers, the big orange marbled ones (we call them jack-o-lantern spiders) and some crazy black spiny orb-weavers (give them a google if you've never seen them).  Lots of harvestmen too, although they aren't really spiders.  I often find spider webs built in strategic positions to try and catch bees.  Any that are successful I of course tear down.             
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Online BeeMaster2

  • Administrator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 13494
  • Gender: Male
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2020, 12:02:13 am »
I get a lot of jumpers (wolf) spiders in the tops are of my hives. I leave them there. They eat SHBs. Black widows like cool damp locations. They are usually found under the hive.
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 jtcmedic

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 535
  • Gender: Male
    • Sweetest sting honey
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2020, 08:34:50 am »
Black and brown widows for me, also the wolf in the lid and scorpions in my lids, I leave them all, doing there jobs. We also have golden orb weaver? Banana spider they come down in my way

Offline Nock

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 631
  • Gender: Male
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2020, 09:51:29 am »
Found one under a hive last year.

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19832
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2020, 11:38:15 pm »
Back when I put the hives on concrete blocks for stands I found them in the hollow of the concrete blocks often.  Not anymore.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline Acebird

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8110
  • Gender: Male
  • Just do it
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2020, 08:16:46 am »
I don't know what to look for but it gives me the creeps to mow under the banana trees.  We still get spiders and lizards inside the lanai after re-screening.  I would have thought they would have starved.
Brian Cardinal
Just do it

Offline Bob Wilson

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1100
  • Gender: Male
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2020, 10:04:30 am »
Well. Maybe it is just this year. I killed the two I found.

Offline Hops Brewster

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 724
  • Gender: Male
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2020, 10:53:53 am »
I have seen lots of black widows this year, not just around the apiary, but around the house too.  In my AC condenser, power panel, shrubs, window wells, etc etc.  I rarely use insecticides, but this year I have made an exception.
Winter is coming.

I can't say I hate the government, but I am proudly distrustful of them.

Offline rast

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 766
  • Gender: Male
Re: Black widows in the apiary?
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2020, 08:35:40 pm »
You havent had fun until you walk through a banana spiders web after dark, that is the stickiest web I know of.
 
Fools argue; wise men discuss.
    --Paramahansa Yogananda

 

anything