# Best option to combat SHB



## J-SiN (Jun 5, 2008)

I know most people say a strong hive will combat them
but Ive ALWAYS had them in every hive Ive had

this year my best strongest hive has em and Im ready to act

I must have counted 60+
I know I smashed 30-35 upon todays inspection and this hive is really strong

Ive read about different traps with mixed results

what do you guys do THAT WORKS


----------



## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

What works for me is the SBB over a pan of mineral oil. I am amazed at the number of dead beetles I find in those babies! Since I build all my own equipment, I built my own version of an IPM bottom board and have used them all summer with great results. You are welcome to check them out--I put the instructions on my website--or you can buy something similar ready-made from most bee supplier.

The only time they have not worked is when I put on hive top feeders (FatBeeMan's design) so I add one of his boric acid traps and that handles that problem. I only have that problem with the feeders because the bees cannot get to the beetles up there. But in the whole rest of the hive the problem is well handled by my bottom board oil pans.

HTH

Rusty


----------



## J-SiN (Jun 5, 2008)

Excellent! I make most of my own stuff and occasionally buy certain items

Do you have a link to your design?
Id love to get on it right away

Is it too late in the year to put em on now ?
wait till next year or install em now?


----------



## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Click on Rusty's Bees and then the link for the IPM Bottom Board.

They are quick and easy to make. I just built another one this week and added it to my last hive. I now have them on all my hives!

(As you can see from the site pix, I am not the greatest carpenter, but the bottom boards still work nicely!)

HTH

Rusty


----------



## Honey man (Apr 11, 2013)

I agree with Rusty and I also make my on ipm bottom board but for my oil pan i use a lunch room type plastic tray


----------



## Genemiller (Jul 21, 2013)

I put my bottom board on backwards and upside down. i made it so i could use it for an oil pan. I'm waiting for the bees that always stay on the screen bottom to stop and then I will add some oil. 
I have 5 unused frames and they are covered with shb's. Each frame has 10-15 and that's a lot. I don't see any damage yet but it's starting to worry me. My trap had at least another 30. I spoke to a lady who does commercial beekeeping and she said they use the beetle blaster with dusting every week. I plan on killing all I can first and then dusting and checking the oil pan a couple hrs later. The good news is the bees seem to handle them .


----------



## Tom Davidson (Mar 20, 2012)

I've been wiped out by these suckers this year. Finally did something that works, for both my smaller hives (one's a small nuc) that are left:

* Leave all the propolis in the hive so they can jail the beetles on their own.
* Reduce the amount of comb & space in the hive down to the bare minimum required for each frame to be covered with bees (I cannot overstate the importance of this).
* Put down a hard barrier underneath your hives and throughout your apiary to prevent the SHB larvae from pupating in the soil. You must break the cycle of reproduction.
* Put as many Beetle Jails or Blasters inbetween each and every frame as you can. If you have to choose between brood and honey chambers, put on brood frames first, then order more traps. I put two traps to a frame; I'm not fooling around in this high SHB year. Put in alittle bit of bait (rotten banana peel, sugar and cider vinegar, blended) and VEGETABLE oil (no other, they love this stuff) and let fill up with beetles. I replace these with fresh ones when they're totally full, and then wash out the previous ones to reuse on my next rotation. But once a trap has a fair amount of beetles in them, more seem to follow, so leave the dead ones in there until your traps are full. My first traps got 20-50 beetles each in the first two days of installing them. That's two days! My bees went from TOTALLY angry when I opened them to a beautiful, happy hum after a few days.
* If you have an oil trap for underneath your bottom board, instead of oil (which you're using up top) use diatemaceous earth. This will deal a double-blow to the SHB.
* Realize you will always have SHB to contend with.


----------



## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

"I have 5 unused frames and they are covered with shb's."
Genemiller, if those frames have comb on them, PULL THEM OUT AND FREEZE THEM. You can't wait till you see damage, they will destroy it in a day. If they are empty, pull them and kill the SHB and put them back. 
Extra space is great for SHB and if comb is left unguarded, they will wreck your hive the day the eggs start hatching. I'm having good luck with the oil trays under the SBB. I keep them on most of the time.


----------



## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Keeping hives in full sun helps.


----------



## J-SiN (Jun 5, 2008)

well I purchased the Integrated Pest Killer tray/bottom board from
www.greenbeehives.com

and immediatly it is taking them suckers out!
I literally got results within minutes


----------



## Genemiller (Jul 21, 2013)

I put an oil pan in the bottom and then dusted. I pulled 31 beetles off empty frames plus whatever is in the trap, probably at least 20. I checked this morning and I had 62 beetles in the oil. I also pulled another 7 off the empty frames. The empty frames have bees on them keeping the beetles corralled . I have a few ideas to keep them out but so far none have worked. I have one more that we use to keep moths off of the cucumber plants which works. I'm going to try a version of that. The good news is there are no worms in the oil and the bees are aggressive enough to handle them. They were a wild swarm so this isn't there first rodeo.

Gene


----------



## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

I've been dealing with SHB loads for 3 years now, and my conclusion is that the best option for managing them is all of the above - no one measure does it alone. But strong hives are well over half of the formula. I have in my yard right now - right next to each other - hives with many beetles and hives with few - all of them are "strong."


----------



## Genemiller (Jul 21, 2013)

David LaFerney said:


> I've been dealing with SHB loads for 3 years now, and my conclusion is that the best option for managing them is all of the above - no one measure does it alone. But strong hives are well over half of the formula. I have in my yard right now - right next to each other - hives with many beetles and hives with few - all of them are "strong."


I started growing cucumbers hydroponically last year. The pickleworm is to my cucumbers what shb's are to bees. If you use poison they are easy to control. Everything I grow is without pesticides. The way to control them is to stop them fom getting to the plants. Some use green houses other drap a light mesh at night when they come in. I have a frame made of conduit that blocks out 40% of the sun and I have mesh I can drop down the sides at night. It makes it impossible for them to get to the plants. I thinking along those lines

Gene


----------

