# Building new hive / beetle trap design



## scottie9656 (May 11, 2015)

I'm building a new hive and after searching the internet for beetle traps I came up with this idea. What do you think? see any problems or improvements? I plan on putting DE or oil in the tray.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

I'm not sure you'll catch many. The beetles would either need to be chased into it or fall down into it. Here is what I came up with. These traps are baited with what the beetles want. Once eggs are laid and larvae start to feed on the bait combs, a lot more beetles are drawn into the traps. Studies have shown they have a strong sense of smell and can detect a hive from a very long distance, so I suspect feeding larvae must give off a scent that draws them down into the traps. http://imgur.com/a/3YTzK?


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## warrior (Nov 21, 2005)

Oil with a little cider vinegar floated on the oil works for me.


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## scottie9656 (May 11, 2015)

that is a good design and I was thinking of adding it also. How often do you clean it out?


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Only a few times a year. The mineral oil gets thick with dead larvae and beetles after a couple of months, so I dump it out and add fresh oil and bait. I don't do anything during winter, but as things start to warm in the spring, I'll refresh the traps.


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## dcnylund (May 28, 2015)

Jon Wolff said:


> I'm not sure you'll catch many. The beetles would either need to be chased into it or fall down into it. Here is what I came up with. These traps are baited with what the beetles want. Once eggs are laid and larvae start to feed on the bait combs, a lot more beetles are drawn into the traps. Studies have shown they have a strong sense of smell and can detect a hive from a very long distance, so I suspect feeding larvae must give off a scent that draws them down into the traps. http://imgur.com/a/3YTzK?


Jon, wouldn't the bees naturally heard the shb into the trap (as long as there are no other hiding places)?


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## scottie9656 (May 11, 2015)

That's what I was hoping for. I plan on making sure there are no other hiding places and was wanting something quick and easy to check and clean.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

dcnylund said:


> Jon, wouldn't the bees naturally heard the shb into the trap (as long as there are no other hiding places)?


Not always. Whether or not they do that depends on the temperament of the bees and if they are hygienics, the population size (the fewer the bees, the less likely they are to bother with the beetles), how much unattended comb there is in the hive (if they can hang out in the back and not be bothered, they will, until it gets cold, then they must huddle with the bee cluster or die). My hives have no hiding places and three to four traps spaced along the bottom, but in one hive that isn't exceptionally hygienic, I am still finding beetles happily inhabiting a comb with bees on the same comb completely ignoring them (we're having a very mild winter this year, and the beetles haven't gone dormant like they usually do). Considering how many beetles and larvae I find in the traps, I can only imagine how overrun that hive would be now.


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## scottie9656 (May 11, 2015)

Jon, This is my first year dealing with them but what you said rings true with what I have seen. I was thinking of having my entrances on the top of the end above the trap and adding a divider board with a entrance slot on the bottom to force everything coming in to go over the screen. I hope with all the traffic the guard bees would chase them in the trap. Cut them off at the pass.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

scottie9656 said:


> Jon, This is my first year dealing with them but what you said rings true with what I have seen. I was thinking of having my entrances on the top of the end above the trap and adding a divider board with a entrance slot on the bottom to force everything coming in to go over the screen. I hope with all the traffic the guard bees would chase them in the trap. Cut them off at the pass.


Do you mean to create a kind of double entrance? If the divider board is well-fitted so that the beetles can't squeeze through the edges, no doubt it would help eliminate many beetles and larvae. The larvae seek the outside when they're ready to pupate, so they would head to the exit, thereby likely ending up in the oil. It's worth a try. Keep us updated.


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