SHB, How I Stopped Them

[Beeboy01]

Been at war with Small Hive Beetles since August of last year when they took two of my six hives. The invasion was partly my fault, I had a bumper crop of honey on and didn't pull it soon enough. By the time I got into the hives two were trashed and slimed and the yard was infected with SHB. Since then it has been war which I was loosing a hive at a time.
  Starting in March the SHBs came back despite Beetle Blaster traps and keeping my last 4 hives tight and in the sun. I had one hive abscond and just fly away the first week of April because there were so many larva in the wax. All the frames were trashed and needed to be tossed. The next hive in line showed SHB larva two weeks later even with Beetle traps and Mite Away strips installed per instructions. I combined the weak hive with one of the last two trying to save the bees.
  By the end of May I had treated the bee yard with ground drench to break the life cycle of the SHB by killing any larval stage in the ground, should of done it at the end of last year but didn't realize just how nasty SHBs really are. I also treated any area which I had placed an infected super to kill any larva that dropped off during the cleanup. Even with breaking the life cycle of the SHB I still had to deal with the adults who can live up to six months and can fly 5 miles or better.
  I'm now down to just two hives and am seeing more SHBs appear in them each inspection. The Beetle Blaster traps are getting filled up almost twice a month but I'm still loosing the war.
  First week of June the weaker hive absconds and I was able to catch it in a nuc box. The SHB's had move into the hive over only two days and overwhealmed the hive driving it out. Now I'm worried and have realized that within another month or so I won't be a bee keeper any more, everything I've tried hasn't stopped them, just slowed them down. :(
Then I realized that the SHB's must invade the hive through the entrance at night when the bees can't defend the hive properly. Since I felt that I was going to loose my last hive anyway out of desperation I reduced the entrance down to two inches and jambed a Mite Away strip in the opening posistioned so that anything that entered the hive would come into contact with it. The next day after only 12 hours the bottom tray was completely black with dead SHB's and there must of been almost a thousand piled up under the entrance on the tray. It looked like someone had spilled a bottle of pepper corns on the tray. The second 24 hours gave me another large SHB kill but by the third day thier numbers were dwindling. By the end of the week the SHB kill count was in the dozens not in the hundreds, by the second week they were gone!!! I don't know how many SHBs were killed but I would guess that there must of been three or four ounces of the little vermin taken out during the attack on my last hive.
  The rest of this year will be rebuilding my yard and maybe I'll be able to harvest enough honey from the last hive to get through till next year. I'm working the mini me nuc I saved and picked up a 5 frame nuc from a local seller. The SHB's will be back but I'm ready for them this time (or so I hope)
  I hope that posting this will help some Beek save thier hives, just don't let your guard down even for a second.
It was ugly

[BeeMaster2]

Beeboy,
Try using screen bottom boards SBB, and screen top boards. They kill SHB by the thousands without the nasty chemicals.
I had the same problem you had when I started. They really work.
Jim

[Beeboy01]

I've been using SBB and beetle traps for years and they have helped. This was an extreme case where all the normal preventive methods for SHBs became overwhelmed by the huge numbers that were invading the hives. Nasty chemicals were my last resort, not my first in this case. I don't like using chemicals in my hives but this time the choice was use no chemicals and loose the hive or treat and save it. My first beetle kill must of been in the thousands and no hive could of survived that invasion. I was going to loose the hive unless I did something drastic. 

[BeeMaster2]

Beeboy,
There must be something in that hive causing extreme stress. The beetles detect it and attack a hive under stress. When a hive swarms or looses its queen, the SHB will attack the hive. Just opening up the hive and rearranging the frames will cause an attack.
Some beeks will stress a small hive to get the SHBs to go to it and protect the rest of the hives.
Jim

[Beeboy01]

I understand the concept that a weak or stressed hive draws SHBs but they also can invade a strong hive if they don't have anywhere else to go and they have enough numbers.  My bee yard was infested with SHBs from last year and thier numbers kept increasing all spring as they killed my other hives. I think a local bee keeper who had his hives about a mile away was totally wiped out this spring and I'll bet a lot of the beetles I had to deal with came from his yard also. My hive was strong with a good brood pattern and bringing in honey when the attack started which is the only reason it survived the attack. I wasn't dealing with 2-3 hundred beetles, in the first 24 hours there were enough dead beetles to fill up my cupped gloved hand, I'm talking thousands not hundreds. I can't see how any hive no matter how strong could of driven off that many SHBs. Sorry that you don't seem to believe me about this.   

[BeeMaster2]

I do not recall saying I did not believe you. I was just relating what I have experienced and learned. If you have just one hive in your area that is completely taken over by SHBs, I can see where several thousand beetles would hatch out and swarm your hives.
You may want to visit your neighbor and check and see if he has been cleaning up those lost hives and killed the larvae before they craw out of the hive and pupate. Oil trays with oil stop that from happening.the beetles have to pupate in the soil.
I just cleaned out a swarm trap that had a small swarm and it suddenly went quiet. It was full of SHB larvae. It took a while to kill all of them by hand with out any chemicals.
Jim

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

Interesting journey, thanks for mentioning it. One friend of mine who is a Beek down south got wiped out from SHB, and then he finds out his neighbor actually bred them for fishing evidently. totally wiped out like 60 hives of his. hope you don't have any crazy neighbors.

[AllenF]

Too small for bait in my opinion. 

[BeeMaster2]

Too small for bait in my opinion. 

That was what I was thinking.
Jim

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

ya, I thought the same, I am not sure 'how' they use them, just that they do. maybe as chum, or something else. I remember hearing about other people who use them also though. maybe thats what they feed their goldfish. I doubt they put a hook through them thats for sure.

[Beeboy01]

I know wax moth larva are great bait for bluegills and pan fish, seen a lot of bait shops sell them in styrofoam cups, don't know about SHB larva, maybe good chum?
 Sawdustmaker, didn't mean to growl at you ;)