Author Topic: Hive beetles (Read 9268 times)

LizzieBee · « **on:** July 07, 2018, 06:47:40 pm »

I didn't think Hive Beetles were in California! But I guess they are cause I saw one today. What's the best way to get rid of them, without using chemicals? I'll squish them as I find them.

Lizzie

VermontHoneyBee · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2018, 07:00:18 pm »

Thank god they don't survive the winter here.

I did have two nucs, that were raised in Tennessee, that did come with them. I used mechanical traps and I no longer can see them. Take a look at this PDF which mentions several ways to manage them.

Thanks
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjl-Zr6_I3cAhVjx1kKHbNWD8YQFgg_MAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uaex.edu%2Fpublications%2FPDF%2FFSA-7075.pdf&usg=AOvVaw22yFu9nF7E5S_62jCDt2Yj

Acebird · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2018, 09:07:03 pm »

Quote from: VermontHoneyBee on July 07, 2018, 07:00:18 pm

Thank god they don't survive the winter here.

They will in the cluster.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2018, 09:11:21 pm »

Here in N FL they can bee really bad. I have oil trays built in under all my hives. When I started out I was killing thousands of them in every hive every month. Now most of the time I the trays are dry.
Jim

VermontHoneyBee · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2018, 09:42:20 pm »

Quote from: Acebird on July 07, 2018, 09:07:03 pm

Quote from: VermontHoneyBee on July 07, 2018, 07:00:18 pm
Thank god they don't survive the winter here.
They will in the cluster.

That may be true but they can't complete a required live stage with needs soil. I may be wrong about this but this topic has been discussed by Mike Palmer and he said, in England, that beetles are not really a problem here. His joke about the British beetles was kind of corky.

fadder · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2018, 11:26:57 pm »

I am getting ready to spray the ground under and around
my hives with white vinegar , salt and water. Plus i have beetle
blasters in the hives.

sc-bee · « **Reply #6 on:** July 07, 2018, 11:44:48 pm »

deleted.... wrong section

sc-bee · « **Reply #7 on:** July 07, 2018, 11:46:55 pm »

If I worried about seeing a few shb I would stay in a panic...a few no issue... a lot more than a few then be careful. No I can't assign a number to how many is more than a few, it is all relative to hive strength... When I need to intervene I have luck with no name swiffers but that is relative to how many and how bad needed. Yes the sheets will kill/catch a few bees...this hive obviously was heavy infested

paus · « **Reply #8 on:** July 08, 2018, 11:31:45 am »

Others and myself have advocated oil pans as a way to control SHB and I still use this method with great success and believe this the best method for my conditions. I played with 4 weak hives yesterday and did not see a hive beetle except, for those in the oil pan. For a newbee this takes to a lot of work and rearranging of their hives but it is workable even on old hive stands. Use the swifters, they will deter some of the SHB and catch bees. You will need to check your hive often, and "That's a good thing" especially for a newbee. I may have posted that I also use a piece of carpet, old swimming pool or neoprene roofing under my hive stands. That keeps weeds under control, plus I work DE in the soil around the buried edge of the material, and hopefully it will kill all larvae that crawls out of the hive as they try to bury themselves for their pupae stage of life cycle.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #9 on:** July 08, 2018, 12:20:40 pm »

Quote from: sawdstmakr on July 07, 2018, 09:11:21 pm

Here in N FL they can bee really bad. I have oil trays built in under all my hives. When I started out I was killing thousands of them in every hive every month. Now most of the time I the trays are dry.
Jim

Jim could this be in part because of the (beetle Greese)? Or do you only have the greese in some of your hives? Thanks Phillip

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 08, 2018, 03:04:23 pm »

Quote from: Ben Framed on July 08, 2018, 12:20:40 pm

Quote from: sawdstmakr on July 07, 2018, 09:11:21 pm
Here in N FL they can bee really bad. I have oil trays built in under all my hives. When I started out I was killing thousands of them in every hive every month. Now most of the time I the trays are dry.
Jim

Jim could this be in part because of the (beetle Greese)? Or do you only have the greese in some of your hives? Thanks Phillip

I put some beetle grease in only a few of my hives. My hives were in full sun here at the farm and they were few and far between. I moved them into Jacksonxille, still in full sun during mid day. We will see how that works out when I go in to add supers.
Jim

Acebird · « **Reply #11 on:** July 08, 2018, 03:24:21 pm »

Quote from: VermontHoneyBee on July 07, 2018, 09:42:20 pm

That may be true but they can't complete a required live stage with needs soil.

They can live 6 months in the cluster and reproduce in the spring. Not much different than a mite in the winter that hangs on during a broodless period in the winter. The bottom line is once you have a problem with hive beetles it doesn't naturally go away because of winter. Beetles can also fly 5 miles so if your neighbor has them then you can get them.

Sputnik · « **Reply #12 on:** July 08, 2018, 03:45:22 pm »

Just got back from checking my hives. My worst had 12 beetles in the oil pan. These are the first I have seen this year. My hives get sun part of the day, too many trees for full sun here. I also use gaurdstar under my hives.

sc-bee · « **Reply #13 on:** July 08, 2018, 04:28:18 pm »

I found guardstar to be a waste..... plus you are dumping poison into the soil. SHB will travel a fair distance to burrow and pupate. Strong hives are best if possible. I see shb on almost every entry...

What are a few bees in a swiffer to save a hive. I find oil trays to be expensive and a PIA. But that is just me... full sun- strong hive- and hard soil will usually take care of it...

The15thMember · « **Reply #14 on:** July 10, 2018, 01:12:08 pm »

First year here, so take my comments with a grain of salt. I was seeing a couple beetles per hive, and since my hives are in the shade it was making me nervous. I cut up generic swiffers into quarters and put 2 squares in each box. I caught a bunch of beetles in them for a few weeks, but now I hardly see any anymore. I also was seeing larva on my bottom board trays and they gone now too, so the swiffers seemed to work good for me. I definitely catch some bees in them, but as long as the number of beetles in comparable to the amount of bees, I'm okay with it. Don't have as many swiffers in any more, since I'm only catching bees lately.

paus · « **Reply #15 on:** July 10, 2018, 03:43:44 pm »

May I suggest a free source of oil pans and oil. No it's not a polaroid or instant gratification because it takes time to gather the materials and service after being installed. Service requirements are a job that is not required near as often, after the initial installation when the pans catch 25 SHB in 24 hours. The SHB caught will soon start to diminish making service times farther and farther apart. In another post, last week, I stated I saw no SHB in working four hives. One of them was the hive I caught 24 or 25 SHB in the first 24 hours. I use used casserole aluminum pans and roll the edges to fit in the space between the double screen bottom boards, which is bee proof. If you are a neato type these pans ARE ugly but they work. The oil is used fish frying oil. Yes its messy to dispose of the oil that is saturated with SHB, SHB larva and a few mites. Yes,
there will be dropped pollen which is a shame but a price that has proved well worth the trouble. By using screen in the rear of the bottom board, pollen lose will be greatly reduced. Compared to the cost of a messy slimed out hive, oil pans are cheap, in both ways. I am making my DSBB with two 4" or 6" holes in the back of the board. The reason is that 90 percent of the pollen is lost in the front half of the board.

Groundhawg · « **Reply #16 on:** July 12, 2018, 12:00:23 am »

Quote from: fadder on July 07, 2018, 11:26:57 pm

I am getting ready to spray the ground under and around
my hives with white vinegar , salt and water. Plus i have beetle
blasters in the hives.

Beetle blasters, swifer sheets, freeman type oil trays will all do a good job. Some a bit better than others but salt, Gold Star, cement, gravel, vinegar will kill some of the larva but will do nothing to stop adults from flying into your hive.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #17 on:** July 12, 2018, 12:41:48 am »

Have any of you read the topic started by little john, under the DISEASE & PEST CONTROL heading published July 6, titled " SHB: Red Light 'discovery' ?"
If not maybe you should?
Best to you all, Phillip Hall "Ben Framed"

fadder · « **Reply #18 on:** July 13, 2018, 02:27:20 am »

Beetle blasters, swifer sheets, freeman type oil trays will all do a good job. Some a bit better than others but salt, Gold Star, cement, gravel, vinegar will kill some of the larva but will do nothing to stop adults from flying into your hive.

I realize this but, if I be use the beetle blasters and still spray under and around the hives I should be able to keep the beetles under control. Plus I don't have to mow or weedeat around the bees now.

paus · « **Reply #19 on:** August 25, 2018, 05:09:38 pm »

I have been very lazy and did not check a swarm that I caught last spring, They were moved to a 10 frame after 5 weeks, I told you I was lazy. Well yesterday they had over 100 SHB that two of us saw not counting the 40+/- we killed. The 10 frame hive has a DSBB but no oil pan. AT 2 PM yesterday I put an oil pan in the bottom. I just got back and at 2:34 PM 24 hours and 34 minutes there were over 200 SHB in the oil with maybe a third that many larva. If you have any SHB, the oil or water pan is the way to reduce the numbers to almost nothing. My Son in law and I worked 6 hives before we looked at this swarm and we saw less than 10 SHB in all of the other hives. Five of those hives are about 250 yards from the swarm hive. I used cooking oil and about two table spoons of beetel bait in the oil. The sixth hive is about 500 yard away, and it is the one TB hive we have but hopefull it will soon be a Lang. Two 10 frame lang boxes sit on top of this TB one is blocked off but the bees are winning this battle, they don't like the lang but "We'll see, we'll see".
We did not see any SHB in the top bar but there are no oil pans under the TB hive but the Lang, about 6 feet away has an oil pan. There are provisions in the TB for two pans as a DSBB was built into the TB and I caught very few SHB but the lang hive next to it catches a few.