I'm a newbee. I started 2 hives with packaged bees the first week of April. After 2 weeks I noticed my first beetle. Now they are in both hives, but as far as I can tell, they are under control. When I first noticed them and did my research, I freaked out! The future seamed quite dismal. I immediately ordered 2) Freeman traps (he's a really nice guy) and installed them. They are probably the best oil traps as there is no way your bees can get in and drown. The traps have all kinds of critters in them and the SHBs are in there too. I usually find a couple of them on the inside of of my top cover but have not seen them on the frames yet. This evening I removed the top covers, but didn't see any at all. The other nite around dusk I killed about 4 trying to fly into the entrance. From what I've read, they like to lay eggs in sandy soil. Here in this part of North Carolina we have clay soil, so that theory is not correct. I also removed some of my empty frames so that the bees will populate the remaining frames much more densely and give the beetles less room. I then add back the frames as they are needed.
I have no idea why I have what seems to me as a heavy population of these monsters. I have an inspection coming up on Saturday where I'll take a good look at my frames. I will continue to monitor the extent of this plague and hope the bees and traps will keep things under control. Treating my lawn or the hive will be the last resort.
I am hoping to eventually have a total of 6 hives, the other 4 will be populated with Russians which will control the beetles much better, but if I can't maintain the 2 hives I have now, I will probably have to find a new hobby although beekeeping is about the coolest thing I've done in a while. I love my girls!