Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DISEASE & PEST CONTROL => Topic started by: Barlon on November 08, 2016, 10:16:46 pm
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I'm a stingless beekeeper and have been having trouble with a sudden influx of hive syrphid flies which started about a week and a half ago.
I've been keeping the little native bees for a bit over two years and have never had a problem as they've always come in limited numbers in fact I've seen less hive syrphid flies in the two years then in the past week and a half, the flies have been showing up everyday laying eggs on my hives so I've been killing the adult flies and removing any eggs I find but more and more keep showing up.
I've inspected all my hives for any possible infestations but so far they seem clear so I'm guessing a wild hive somewhere nearby must have been turned into a breeding ground for these flies as it's their only way of reproducing.
I'm at my wits end trying to keep my hives safe from this parasitic fly so any help would be very appreciated.
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These tend to lay their eggs at the join between boxes. I'd suggest putting tape over all the joins of your boxes, or otherwise maintaining close box joints and strong colonies. They're most destructive when doing splits etc as this changes the integrity of the joints. Can try reducing entrance size too, but that's more for Phorid flies, as Syrphid flies don't enter the colony.
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These tend to lay their eggs at the join between boxes. I'd suggest putting tape over all the joins of your boxes, or otherwise maintaining close box joints and strong colonies. They're most destructive when doing splits etc as this changes the integrity of the joints. Can try reducing entrance size too, but that's more for Phorid flies, as Syrphid flies don't enter the colony.
I added tape around 3 days ago so I'm hoping it works.
I tend to use the natural split methods for my hives to get less pests, but I also tend to transfer rescued nests but I have my hives spread out between my family and the hives the flies have been hanging around are two of my strongest