# Amount of beetles



## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Yes, beetles can overcome a hive. Oil traps can help--both the hanging ones and the bottom tray type. Seems a shame to just give up on the hive without a fight. There is a thread on here somewhere about converting existing screened bottom boards to use a tray for oil that might be helpful for you. Also FatBeeMan has a video about using boric acid traps that can help too, on his You-Tube channel. 

Good luck!

Rusty


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## Beehaive (Apr 22, 2012)

Go to lowes or home depot and get a cordless dewault shop vac and get the mini attachment kit that has an attachment about the size of a straw. Open the hive an suck every one out you can, it will even suck them out of the comb, then start using the traps Rusty talked about. That will give the bees a fighting chance to catch up, but the bees can just get overrun by the little turds.


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## gmcharlie (May 9, 2009)

with a ton of beetles the rap should help at least get the populations down to manageble.... get some gaurdstar


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## Snakejumper (Jul 3, 2011)

Last year, my "weak" hive was over-run with hive beetles so I converted the screened bottom board to an oil trap similar to the one in the link I've attached. This guy uses a mixture of petroleum jelly & baby oil. He even paints the stand legs with this mixture to keep out fire ants & other nefarious critters.

My former weak hive is now my strong hive & is bustling with activity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niQQfPoiEmw


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## Isaac Colvin (Mar 7, 2012)

Just finished building and installing a sbb beetle trap, it appears like it will work and it only cost a couple of bucks to make.


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## David Cassity (May 16, 2012)

If you use gardstar on the ground around the hive. How lind will the hatched beetles live in the hive or how long till you see a reduction in.beetles


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Beetles pupate in the ground around the hive. But first they do their damage in the hive while laying all those eggs and THAT is where they need to be controlled. The gardstar is helpful but it is not going to give you control. You can get the same level of control using diatamaceous earth (DE) around your hives, but it is still not enough by itself. Heck, while I was in Florida, I could stand outside my hives in the evening and watch the beetles fly into my hives from surrounding hives in the area. Trap them inside your hives for the best results.

JMO

Rusty


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

The best defense against SHB is a strong hive. However, even a strong hive can succumb to SHB. Sometimes you just have to treat when all your traps are not controlling them. Checkmite + is the approved treatment. You need to pull any supers first. Forget Garstar.......just too expensive .......look to other posts for an alternative that has the same ingredients but is much cheaper. 

I used mostly plastic frames, but because of SHB I'll go to wood frames with plastic inserts. There are just too many nooks & crannies in the all plastic frames for the SHB to hide. 

Just how I'd do it........


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Here's a link to Intheswamp's Simple Oil Tray modification... http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?273562-Simple-oil-tray-mod-for-sbb-s

Two caveats...beware of rain water entering the trap and make sure the gap between the bottom side of the bottom board and the lip of the oil tray is too small for bees to pass through.

Isaac, could you share a description of the location of your hive with the high beetle population? Full sun, partial shade, full shade, etc.,? Rocky ground, deep topsoil, clay, etc.,? Dry or moist area? Strong or weak hive?

Ed


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## Isaac Colvin (Mar 7, 2012)

Intheswamp said:


> Isaac, could you share a description of the location of your hive with the high beetle population? Full sun, partial shade, full shade, etc.,? Rocky ground, deep topsoil, clay, etc.,? Dry or moist area? Strong or weak hive?
> 
> Ed


The hive is weak (or at least weaker than my other hive) located in full sun (when the sun is shining) deep sandy loam topsoil and since the hive is in East Tennessee this spring it is very very damp.


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Isaac, it sounds like some good conditions for the beetles...and even though it's in full sun if the sun's behind clouds, well, I guess that kind of negates the impact of location in full sunlight. I'm probably a bit out there with this but I tend to think the beetles "sense" the micro-climate surrounding the bee hives and pass judgement on whether it is a good place "to raise their kids" or not. My hives are in full sun on probably ~2' of sandy loam, too, though it seems to drain fairly readily. My beetle population has been somewhat low, no major infestatations...yet. 

I'm trying to take a three-fold approach to the beetles. Top, in-hive, and bottom. I've sat one hive aside as a "test hive". I've sat the prototype of the ISOT beneath a colony that I cut out last summer. I just put it into service yesterday when I added the mineral oil and nailed on an "awning" over the entrance to help with rain blowing into the tray. I'm hoping that the awning will also help to redirect the beetles to the sides of the opening and down to the porch/bottom level for entry rather than them simply entering by around the upper edge of the front entrance. I hope the other hives don't get jealous over the extra "bling" that this colony's getting.  The beetle's *may* be able to enter the hive through the small gap between the tray and bottom board but they will have to keep out of the oil tray...entering the front of the hive the extra modification of the metal flashing and slits will offer the beetles a nice dark refuge from the harassing bees. 

Inside the hives I have Beetle Jail Juniors. I'm seeing that the bees do seem to herd the beetles to the sides of the hive where (for now) not much storage actiivity is happening...but, they are found elsewhere, too. I like to keep a trap close to the escape/feeder holes in the inner cover. I will use 2-3 traps per hive...filled with mineral oil...vegetable oil seems to go rancid too quickly and attracts ants like crazy, too. The FAMILY DOLLAR STORE has a pint of mineral oil for $2 down here...best price that I've seen, but I'd love to find it cheaper. I use it in the trays and in the Beetle Jails.

Topside is where I feel that my protection is the weakest. I'm using telescoping covers on most of my hives and on the "bling" hive. Our neighbors "down yonder"  in Australia have been using the equivalent of Handi-Wipes...those tough reusable but disposable wipes people use for dishes, countertops, etc,. Some of the Aussies are using them in-hive, but some bees also get tangled in the "fuzz" that traps the beetles by tangling up their barbed legs. Some put them in cd cases, some on top of inner covers. I'm going the last route for now...on top of the inner cover. My escape/feeder holes are screened with #8 so bees can't get too the Handi-Wipes and get tangled in them. I haven't caught any beetles in mine yet, but I haven't seen a high number of beetles nor any on top of the inner cover since installing the wipes so the jury is still out on this tactic for me. I got my copycat Handi-Wipes at "The Dollar Tree"...eight "Buddy Wipes" for $1...one wipe should work per inner cover.

Well, that's my tactics for the time being...time will tell have effective they are.

Could you post of picture of your oil tray trap? I'd like to see how you made it...I'm always looking for different designs...the simpler the better! 

Best wishes,
Ed


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

This is just my own theory, but I suspect that the reason Shb are controlled better when hives are in the sun is that the sun baked ground under the hives is less hospitable for their life cycle. Hive conditions are probably harder for the bees in hot areas. Just a theory.

Btw - I had this problem a few months ago, and as much as I hated to - I used the checkmite. It wipe out pretty much all beetles in about a week. One hive I left it in for two weeks. Coumaphos is nasty, last resort stuff, but I believe it saved my bees. So far so good.

I believe that my Shb problem was a result of our bad dearth and subsequent poor nutrition last summer.


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

David, sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do. I say I won't use chemicals, but I haven't gotten pushed against the ropes yet, either.

Ed


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