# Scotch-Brite wipes for SHB



## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

Last night I heard about a technique of placing Scotch-Brite wipes inside a hive to entangle and trap SHB. Does anyone know if this works? Seems to me that it might not, but it could be crazy enough to work. 

Any experience?

I think this is the product they were talking about: http://goo.gl/M9f8CO


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## B52EW (Jun 3, 2013)

I heard about using swifer dusters the same way. I tried it. Cut into 4x4 squares. It traps about 30-40 SHBs and a couple of bees for each hive. In our heat and humidity the swifer sheets turn into cotton-like fluff pretty fast. This year, I used them in conjunction with normal SHB traps...this is the worst I've seen the SHBs around my hives.


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

B52EW said:


> I heard about using swifer dusters the same way. I tried it. Cut into 4x4 squares. It traps about 30-40 SHBs and a couple of bees for each hive. In our heat and humidity the swifer sheets turn into cotton-like fluff pretty fast. This year, I used them in conjunction with normal SHB traps...this is the worst I've seen the SHBs around my hives.


I tried them, if they worked I couldn't tell because they were fuzzballed and dragged out the front door. If I checked on the in just a day or so, they never caught any.
I'm not far from you, and I agree, I've never seen SHB like this before. I'm slowly adding oil trays to all my hives. I didn't try the swifer duster sheet, but I will.


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## B52EW (Jun 3, 2013)

Robbin, last year I didnt use anything except the end of the hive tool. This year Im replacing oil traps weekly.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

Astrobee, I first heard about it from the Colonial group last year. Now this year, I've heard first hand accounts from VaBch beekeepers that it is working for them. Some are reporting that is has to be the brand name scotch brite. Others said the Swiffer papers worked too, but some said those were catching bee legs as well as small hive beetle legs.


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## G3farms (Jun 13, 2009)

I use the swiffer sheets and they work good. I cut them into 4 x 4 squares and place them on the top bars in the corners. It will catch SHB until the patch is black with them, yes it does catch a few bees also. The bees will drag it out the entrance and if they can't they will propolize it in place.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

there was a thread on here a year or so about it, from a person in australia, but so far I can't find it.

found it
http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...-of-Small-Hive-Beetle&highlight=shb+australia


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## jakec (May 26, 2015)

I haven't tried the scotch brite pads but wadded up grass worked GREAT for me! I got hit by robbers a couple weeks ago and I grabbed a bunch of grass and shoved it in the entrance to reduce it until I could build a real entrance reducer. i ended up leaving the grass in there for a week. when i pulled it out it was slap full of hive bettles. i mean like 100 of those little bastards. i just laid the grass mat full of bettles on a cinder block and smushed them all with my boot. you have to really pack the grass in though or the bees take it out and throw it in front of the hive. i don't think they get trapped in it but just hide in it and the bees cant get to them. if you don't/cant go into your hive every couple days it might not be so good because it doesn't kill them, but if you can, you can kill a ton at once.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

I read about it this year. And it works very well. 

I think a SBB with oil will work best. But with swiffer pads (no name) you don't have the mess. I started putting them under the SBB to catch beetles and found it does catch them not all but some or most. 

I did put a piece on the bottom corner of a small weak hive (no SBB) that was just ripe for a beetle attack. A week later went into that hive and found a ball that looked like something from the dyer filter with a bunch of beetle stuck to it. There was a bee or two that may have been stuck. The rest of the hive had only a few beetles. 

I was surprised at how well it did. And will be using them more in the future on weaker hives.


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

There was something from an Australian beek some time ago, his method was to fuzz up a piece of scotch brite with a brush and put it into a c/d box. The bees would chase the beetles and they would hide in the box and get caught up in the cloth obviousely the bees could not get caught up in the cloth and they could not remove the cloth from the hive. As I have not been troubled by SHB I have not tried the method described. However I have heard of tests conducted in VA and the scotchbrite cloths were more successful than Swiffer.
Johno


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## RudyT (Jan 25, 2012)

the Australian brand was "Chux."


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## my2cents (Jul 9, 2015)

I tried the Swifter pads and I found it to be really messy. I am converting all my pallets to aone that falls through the floor and uses Avion as a bait.
I intend to make them available to the public in the near future.
All my hives are on pallets, I am cutting a 2 inch hole, covering with 1/8th inch mesh. I find this works better than the swifter and easier than the oil. I am working on a method to make a screened entrance floor.
After studying these critters, I find that they fly in to any cracks. But they mostly enter the same way the bees do, if your hives are tight. I have began to screen my feeder holes on my lids from the indie, this still allows ventilation and allows me to feed through the top, and SHBs can't enter.
My2Cents


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## Scpossum (May 4, 2014)

Works well for me. I think better than beetle blasters. Here is one after a week in a hive. This is a generic swiffer pad from the dollartree.


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

Whew, I thought it was just me. I'm going to try the Swiffer as that 's what I have on hand.


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

Scpossum said:


> Works well for me. I think better than beetle blasters. Here is one after a week in a hive. This is a generic swiffer pad from the dollartree.
> View attachment 20034


I don't like the dead bees, with my luck, it's going to be my queen. I'm going to dump the oil from one of my trays and try it in the tray, though I've read that it's the bees chewing on it that gets it all fuzzed up so it catches beetles.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

I use the pads labled beetle b gone and in the course of a year had about one dead bee but a lot of dead shb, more than I was getting in my oil traps. Your mileage may vary, but the rain has blessed me with tons of shb and these are working.

Except in my pulled honey. Trying to find the right flow rate for co2 til I get the extractor.


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

I'm overrun with SHB this year. Finding over a 100 in Nucs. I tried the Scotch Brite. it caught a few, but nothing like what was needed to make a dent in the population. Plus the bees spend a lot of time on it which is what makes it frez so the SHB get caught in it. I tried 5 nucs and 2 hives for about 3 weeks. Not worth the time and money in my opinion. Beetle blasters work pretty good, better than nothing, but won't really control the SHB. Only SBB with oil trays underneath really make a difference. I've got them REALLY bad this year, I'm adding freeman beetle traps to all my hives and will never add a permanent hive without one in the future.


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## my2cents (Jul 9, 2015)

Found this to easy, simple and very effective, I have been converting my hives to this on pallets and standard Bottom Boards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TmlLbk42nY


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

how do you guys that have 100 beetles in a nuc not get slimed to death. Had my first nuc get slimed last week. I found 3 beetles in it :scratch: every seam was packed with bees


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## julieandwadeshelton (Oct 10, 2014)

I am 4 months into this beekeeping thing.. and am extremely on edge because of the outbreak of beetles I am having. My plans for the next couple days is to 1. move the hives to sunnier area 2. spread diatomaceous earth in the present area of the hive stands as well as where they will be moved to 3. when I can get my hands on it freeman type oil pan thingies. I guess I'll throw in Swiffer and play whack a beetle till I break my hive tool. 

Any additional immediate measures I can take while I wait to get my new bottom boards?


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## phyber (Apr 14, 2015)

idk if it's an option for you, but moving my hives to full sun reduced my SHB count incredibly.


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## phyber (Apr 14, 2015)

julieandwadeshelton said:


> I am 4 months into this beekeeping thing.. and am extremely on edge because of the outbreak of beetles I am having. My plans for the next couple days is to 1. move the hives to sunnier area 2. spread diatomaceous earth in the present area of the hive stands as well as where they will be moved to 3. when I can get my hands on it freeman type oil pan thingies. I guess I'll throw in Swiffer and play whack a beetle till I break my hive tool.
> 
> Any additional immediate measures I can take while I wait to get my new bottom boards?


a beek in my group goes out to the hives with a propane torch and pops the beetles....might be more fun?


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## julieandwadeshelton (Oct 10, 2014)

phyber said:


> a beek in my group goes out to the hives with a propane torch and pops the beetles....might be more fun?


My luck I'd torch the whole woods behind my house.. how does he isolate them?


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## phyber (Apr 14, 2015)

says he lifts the top cover and starts along the rabbet edge of the frames, his SHB seem to try and hide there...


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

julieandwadeshelton said:


> I am 4 months into this beekeeping thing.. and am extremely on edge because of the outbreak of beetles I am having. My plans for the next couple days is to 1. move the hives to sunnier area 2. spread diatomaceous earth in the present area of the hive stands as well as where they will be moved to 3. when I can get my hands on it freeman type oil pan thingies. I guess I'll throw in Swiffer and play whack a beetle till I break my hive tool.
> 
> Any additional immediate measures I can take while I wait to get my new bottom boards?


I use the diatomaceous earth on the IPM board underneath the screened bottom board. (mine are topbarhives). When the bees drive the beetles into the dust, they eventually die. I had an outbreak in a nuc, that once I scraped all the propolis off so the topbars could fit solidly together and added the DE under the hive, the bees got them under control. I think it probably helps to open up the hive so that the beetles are exposed from the places that the bees can't reach. I know that is contrary to what others will say since the bees "trap" the beetles, but I want them in the light where I can get to them with my tool.


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## jakec (May 26, 2015)

Harley Craig said:


> how do you guys that have 100 beetles in a nuc not get slimed to death. Had my first nuc get slimed last week. I found 3 beetles in it :scratch: every seam was packed with bees


I don't know. I keep waiting for it to happen. when I went in the hive on Saturday there were only a couple beetles. I don't understand how it works. ive got freeman traps and beetle jails, and they both trap a lot, but I still have a ton of beetles sometimes and sometimes not.


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## julieandwadeshelton (Oct 10, 2014)

ruthiesbees said:


> I use the diatomaceous earth on the IPM board underneath the screened bottom board. (mine are topbarhives). When the bees drive the beetles into the dust, they eventually die. I had an outbreak in a nuc, that once I scraped all the propolis off so the topbars could fit solidly together and added the DE under the hive, the bees got them under control. I think it probably helps to open up the hive so that the beetles are exposed from the places that the bees can't reach. I know that is contrary to what others will say since the bees "trap" the beetles, but I want them in the light where I can get to them with my tool.


I've also decided I'm getting rid of frame spacers. I don't have them on all boxes, but they are on the medium brood boxes I have over my deeps. I notice it just gives way too many hiding areas.

I spoke with a man last night that had quite a problem back in the spring. He did beetle traps, wintergreen on cardboard, used Crisco on the board that slides under the screen bottom for winter (thus checking it daily to squish as many as possible) and put landscape tarp under his hives. He finally got them in check.


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