# Freeman Beetle Trap with Beetle Baffle



## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

I build my own version of oil traps and have never needed more than that. You are welcome to check out my IPM bottom boards on my website. I've used them for several seasons now and so far this year I have seen exactly one live beetle. Lots of dead ones but only that one live one--right before I squished him!

HTH

Rusty


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

I have no idea how you would use a beetle baffle with a Freeman beetle trap.

I have three Freeman beetle traps installed. I like them, but had a bit of a learning curve with them. They are wonderfully effective against small hive beetles, but also kill any varroa mites the bees manage to knock off and that fall into the trap. I've found several types of larvae dead in it, including SHB and wax moth larvae. 

I originally used mine with vegetable oil. This was effective, but I wanted to strain and reuse it. Veggie oil tends to turn to margarine, and does not strain well. The smell might also attract bears and raccoons. I have switched to drug store mineral oil, which remains liquid and strains easily.

I have had episodes in which bees have died in the trap in large numbers. This has several causes.

1) If you take the oil tray out, immediately put an oil tray or IPM board back in. Otherwise bees will explore the underside of the screen, and be trapped when you finally put a tray or board back in.

2) Make sure the tray or board goes in completely. If there is a gap, the same thing will happen.

3) Some models have a dado groove for the tray edge that extends out the front of the hive under the landing board. If this leaves an open gap, caulk it. Otherwise bees may get in.

I recommend that you ask your supplier if you can get an extra tray or two, and also get some IPM boards that you can cut to fit. The IPM boards are a convenient tool for mite drop counts. The extra trays let you swap out to take the old ones in to drain and recover the oil and clean the tray.

Now, prepare for the most anxious winter of your life, waiting for your bees! We went thru that a couple of winters back. I'm guessing you'll go overboard getting ready, as we did.


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## e-spice (Sep 21, 2013)

Hi, I think both once you get the Freeman traps, you're good. Anything else is overkill. I'm not sure how well those baffles work but the Freeman traps are the real deal.

Just FYI, a strong, healthy hive will mostly deal with beetles. Varroa mites are a completely different story though. Have a plan to deal with them.

Good luck!


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## Barhopper (Mar 5, 2015)

West traps come with a slotted top that prevents bees from getting in it.


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## HoneyPepper (Aug 22, 2015)

For varroa mites I'm thinking about buying a fogger and just routinely fogging with mineral oil. I was actually going to ask about that next. Mineral oil fog, OA vaporizer, or both? And thank you all for the recommendations so far!


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## Barhopper (Mar 5, 2015)

Do a search on mineral oil fogging and you might change your mind. I too was excited about doing fogging but after reading results I went OAV.


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

HoneyPepper said:


> For varroa mites I'm thinking about buying a fogger and just routinely fogging with mineral oil. I was actually going to ask about that next. Mineral oil fog, OA vaporizer, or both? And thank you all for the recommendations so far!


Hands down: OA. Mineral oil fog does not control varroa. Look for a very long thread on here started by GLOCK that ran for months as he tracked his progress fogging. In the end he switched to OAV.

HTH

Rusty


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## beegineer (Jul 5, 2011)

I've had really good luck running two beetle blasters in the top box, with freeman bottom board's . I also just did my first Oxalic Drinch and had a good mite drop , going for my second round today of OA


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## e-spice (Sep 21, 2013)

Rusty Hills Farm said:


> Hands down: OA. Mineral oil fog does not control varroa. Look for a very long thread on here started by GLOCK that ran for months as he tracked his progress fogging. In the end he switched to OAV.


My thoughts exactly!



beegineer said:


> I've had really good luck running two beetle blasters in the top box, with freeman bottom board's . I also just did my first Oxalic Drinch and had a good mite drop , going for my second round today of OA


Beegineer - I don't know a lot about OA dribble, but I though you were only supposed to do one treatment per hive per year with that. OA vapor can be multiple times though.


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

I have tried the beetle baffle with the freeman beetle traps, but I don't think it's any better than my hives with just the freeman beetle traps. Good plan, buy the freeman beetle traps up front and save yourself the cost of the regular bottom boards. I'm replacing ALL my bottom boards with the traps, so the bottom boards were wasted money. I could have used that money on the traps.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Here is that mineral oil thread mentioned above, started by _Glock _...

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?283157-Started-fogging-today

... its a long thread, but after some posts, _Glock _reports that oil fogging _wasn't _controlling varroa very well, so he switched to oxalic acid vaporization and was very pleased with the effectiveness of OAV.


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> Here is that mineral oil thread mentioned above, started by _Glock _...
> 
> http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?283157-Started-fogging-today
> 
> ... its a long thread, but after some posts, _Glock _reports that oil fogging _wasn't _controlling varroa very well, so he switched to oxalic acid vaporization and was very pleased with the effectiveness of OAV.


yea, I was part of that thread and used fogging like glock. It simply does not work. OAV on the other had, works like a champ.


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## fraz6020 (Jun 8, 2015)

Thanks Rusty, I think I am going to try your IPM bb. You have some interesting info on your web site thanks.


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## beegineer (Jul 5, 2011)

e-spice , randy oliver talks of using three doses one week apart to get the mites that are in the capped brood as the oxalic acid dribble will not mites that are in the cell . On his web site he talks about other methods he preferrs during the summer but has had no ill effects of using multible dose's but please referr to his site and don't take my word but he does have some good info for the oxalic acid dribble .


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

beegineer said:


> e-spice , randy oliver talks of using three doses one week apart to get the mites that are in the capped brood as the oxalic acid dribble will not mites that are in the cell . On his web site he talks about other methods he preferrs during the summer but has had no ill effects of using multible dose's but please referr to his site and don't take my word but he does have some good info for the oxalic acid dribble .


Yes, Randy has excellent information about OAD. There are multiple articles written over several seasons as the information has been updated with new research. My only problem has been figuring which is the most current information. I currently dribble only twice a year--March and November--and only once in each of those months. The November application goes in when there is no brood or nearly so, to knock down the most mites. By the March application, I do have brood but the sugar shakes in April always show the hives clear of mites. I do not risk multiple summer or fall applications.

JMO

Rusty


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## HoneyPepper (Aug 22, 2015)

Just wanted to say thanks for everyone's help. It looks like I'm just going to use the freeman beetle traps and OA vape. I started looking on EBAY for the vaporizer and found one I liked, later that day, another member posted a thread about his hive catching on fire. Come to find out he was using the same vaporizer I was looking at to purchase! Which one do yall recommend getting and I'm also curious if there are any other treatments or medications you use in addition to the OA vape, or is that all I will need?


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## SouthTexasJohn (Mar 16, 2015)

Prepper,

If you want to purchase all of your equipment during the off-season, figure out what you need and multiply that by 20 to 50. That should get you through a year or two.


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## HoneyPepper (Aug 22, 2015)

Hahaha yeah you're right about that! Not a cheap hobby by any means but I'm gonna go for it. I've kept coral reef tanks and various livestock. It's all expensive and all takes research and planning before you do it.


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## Barhopper (Mar 5, 2015)

Varrox by Oxavap was my choice. Love it. I my opinion being able to dip it in water to cool it down speeds up the process when doing multiple hive. Contact SNL on this site about his recommendations.


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