# Will freezing kill beetles



## n5odj (Mar 22, 2006)

Will freezing kill small hive beetles on/in comb from a cutout? Will it kill adults, larvae, etal?

Robert Lewis


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

48 hours below 20F seems to kill SHB for us... course it will kill everything else too.


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## n5odj (Mar 22, 2006)

Good deal. Thank you. I knew it will kill moths, but I've never dealt with beetles before I did this cut-out today.


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## jkola404 (Jan 8, 2008)

If they are outside of the cluster maybe it would kill them but I think they snug right up with the bees. We had beetles that survived our Michigan winter.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

Is he trying to freeze an entire hive? Or is he freezing individual comb?


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## n5odj (Mar 22, 2006)

Oh, there are no more bees on this comb. They went elsewhere. I just want to salvage the comb w/o releasing any beetles onto my property. It's not a hive.... it's in a 5 gallon bucket.


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## PDG honey (Jul 31, 2010)

I've done a few test with cold temp with bees and beetles. It takes about 2 hours to kill the beetle in the freezer. I took a plastic sandwich dish. I put a bee and a SHB in the dish. I first placed it in the fridge for an hour. The bee was twitching and the SHB was running around in just a few minutes. The bee died shortley after. I replace the bee and left the same beetle in the dish. I placed them in the freezer for 2 hours. The bee and the beetle are both dead. I place another bee and beetle in the tray and left them in there for 40 minutes. I took them out and placed them in the sun. The bee died and the beetle started running around about 15 minutes later, but acted sick. It seems that the beetles are more winter hardy than the bees. I know during the winter the beetles will gather in and above the cluster for heat. Its important to kill of as many beetles as possible before winter. In the south it does get cold, but we have some warm days in the high 50s and low 60s where the beetles can fly hive to hive. I have seen them slime hives on cold winter days.


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

So have I! It's a never ending battle. I grafted cells last Friday and gave them a patty of Megabee to chew on. Yesterday, Tuesday, I opened them up and the patty was alive with SHB larva. PLEASE!!! SOMEBODY find something legal to kill off these miserable little devils!


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## psisk (Jul 21, 2011)

Full sunshine and strong hives is working for me. I know it wont work for everyone but it does for me.


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## fish_stix (May 17, 2009)

I have 250+ strong hives, all of which are in full sun. Still get SHB. Been dealing with them for about 12-15 years now, and it doesn't get any easier as time goes by.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

fish_stix said:


> I have 250+ strong hives, all of which are in full sun.


FISH... Do you have any yards that get the SHB worst than others? Seems to be what I am seeing here.


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