# small hive beetles



## cg3 (Jan 16, 2011)

I'm in SE Ohio. First saw them last year, just a few. Many more this year, still haven't had a problem.


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## wildflowerlanehoney (Aug 17, 2010)

i thought i saw one this year, but had never seen one so wasnt sure. i actually live in lancaster now, so not too far from you.


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## primeonly27 (Jun 23, 2011)

Things to do: Prevention put Diatamacious earth on the ground near the hive. Have the hive in the sun. Have it on well drained soil. Not sure if it helps but have used oxalic acid vaporization and or formic acid in your IPM and it keeps them down and away. Other things are sign board stapled to the bottom of the hive inside the sign board you have a mix of boric acid and powder sugar with crisco blocking the hole where the powder is. This is a trap that is said to work. If you have them you would know. One or two not a big deal. If you soil is right for them you should have lots. If the soil is sandy or rocky and well drained you will never have them in a Million years. Also if you keep a strong hive they should or won't be a problem the SHB goes to weak hives.


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## Genemiller (Jul 21, 2013)

I had a lot of hive beetles until I put an oil pan underneath. I got the one from eheart.com by freeman. It covers the whole bottom. Since I installed it i have seen zero loose beetles. 
I did go to a local meeting that has an apiary. It's in the woods in the shade over dirt and they use no treatment. I was told the bees here handle them just fine. Personally I feel better knowing they are dead so I'm gonna keep using it. 
Gene


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## rweaver7777 (Oct 17, 2012)

The problem with earth treatments around the hive is that those are only effective AFTER your hive has been trashed. If a larva makes it to the ground, it has eaten, pooped in, and grown to maturity in your honey (now fermented due to the beetle poop). The screened bottom board and oil pan is the best way to treat for beetles. We just put these under our two (remaining - we had four) hives, and the "Great Beetle Holocaust of 2013" has occurred and will be talked about among the beetle communities for years to come. In one hive I figure there were over a thousand dead beetles, and the other I suspect just a bit shy of that.

It really IS amazing how many beetles a colony can tolerate, but I can testify via our other two now-kaput hives that an infestation can get to a level that is insurmountable.

BTW, in addition to the screen bottom boards, we put beetlejails (see beetlejail.com) on the entrances. It will have to wait until spring to see if we capture most of the beetles via the entrance trap or if they still get in the hive. Don't know yet if we wasted money on the entrance traps. But I figure every chance I can give the bees to survive against a pest we have only physical countermeasures against, is a good thing. (I don't count Check-Mite or other chemical treatments as a countermeasure worth doing - the beetles will carry the poison throughout the hive and it will get in the brood comb, in the honey, etc.)

OA and formic acid aren't a beetle treatment - they're for mites. The only treatment we have (and haven't needed to use it yet) is MAQS (formic acid) because it is even naturally occurring in the honey. We fortunately don't have a mite problem. And IMO, because they treat for beetle larvae only AFTER you've been slimed, ground treatments are a waste of time and money (if you use screen bottom boards) that you would be better off spending that time and money on other things.

P.S. the bottom boards Gene mentioned are not from eheart.com, they are from eheartwood.com. http://www.eheartwood.com/bee-boxes/beetle-mite-trap-bottom-w-tray-10-frame.


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## Myron Denny (Sep 27, 2009)

Will 6 wires per inch both ways work and will galvinized hardware cloth work or does it need aluminum wire? Please excuse my spelling!


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

> Will 6 wires per inch both ways work and will galvinized hardware cloth work or does it need aluminum wire? 

Galvanized wire is fine. The most commonly used hardware cloth for this purpose is #8 (8 wires per inch). I believe some bees can get through #5 hardware cloth (its used in pollen traps). Some _may _not be able to get through #6 cloth, but I think #6 is harder to find than #8 hardware cloth.

UPDATE: Well, I just found a post by Michael Bush discussing mesh sizes:



Michael Bush said:


> #8 - no bee can pass. pollen gets stuck.
> #7 - as long as there are no bent wires, no bee can pass. Pollen falls through
> #6 - worker bees can squeeze through (and will) but they have to wiggle and squirm a lot. Drones and queens cannot.
> #5 - worker bees can squeeze through easily but lose some of their pollen. Queens and drones cannot.
> #4 - all bees can pass (workers, drones and queens). The workers sometimes lose some of their pollen when they catch their basket on the wire. (mice cannot and this makes a nice mouse guard)


So, to allow beetles to pass, but not bees, you need either #7 or #8 hardware cloth. #7 is hard to find, but Betterbee does sell it:
http://www.betterbee.com/Products?search=hardware+cloth+

.


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## julysun (Apr 25, 2012)

Something new to me is table cloth patches on the top bars. Mentioned elsewhere on BS. The cloth is backed with polyester matting which traps the SHB. Just installed some in my 4 hives. Will see how well they work.


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## julysun (Apr 25, 2012)

Check this thread;

Thread: Crikey, could this be a world record SHB kill?


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Here's a link to the "Table Cloth" beetle trap thread mentioned above:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?290030-Crikey-could-this-be-a-world-record-SHB-kill


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