# Update: Easy feeder/pest control



## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Small hive beetles are beginning to build in numbers. One jar trap had over a dozen. The beetles don't know how to get up past the funnel once they go down to the bait. I bait my traps with a piece of honey comb, including pollen, and drizzle a bit of honey over it. As a bee feeder, the system continues to work great. No removing roofs or top bars is nice, especially when feeding at night, which I have to do with one hive since feeding during the day seems to stimulate robbing by other bees. I'll update again later in the spring. http://imgur.com/a/3YTzK


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## txbeek (May 21, 2013)

What keeps bees from dying in the beetle traps, or beetles feeding from the feeder? Or maybe this is a dumb question

TxBeek


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Not a dumb question. Thanks for asking. When I want to turn a feeder into a trap, I place a funnel into the jar mouth and a screened lid over that before screwing the jar back in. That keeps the bees out and traps the beetles that get in. If you click on the link in my post above and scroll through the pictures, you'll see how I made them. When I use a jar as a feeder, I place plastic screen inside the jar and pieces of wood as floats. I cover all the jars with light blocking sleeves. Beetles can still feed when the bees feed, but I suspect as the colony gets stronger in the spring I'll find more beetles being chased into traps (at least that's the idea).


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## txbeek (May 21, 2013)

Thanks. So the beetles can get through window screen, or what size screen do you use?


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

It's gutter screen that I've had for some years, 1/8, I think.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

txbeek, I added three photos to my album. One shows the trap backlit so you can see the funnel. Another shows beetles in the trap after I unscrewed it, and the third shows a feeder after the bees have emptied it.


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## louiedonovan55 (May 9, 2014)

That's great feeder, what are the measurements of that pest control feeder? I might try building projects like that, but this time a trap for rats. pest control NY


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Sorry for the late reply, louiedonovan55. I've been very busy and rarely online this summer. The pest control and feeder jars are just wide mouth mason jars. Everything is based on canning supplies you can get at a grocery store or a dollar store.


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## txbeek (May 21, 2013)

How are the rings attached to the hive bottom? Are they in the holes, glued to the bottom over the holes? I can't see from the pictures.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

I just used small nails and screws. They're up against the bottom board aligned with the holes. I'll add a picture to make it clearer.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Thank you Jon Wolff for the very clear and detailed pictures with explanation sets on your link. Very ingenious idea and well detailed sharing for the rest of us.


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## txbeek (May 21, 2013)

I echo Ray. Thanks for the update and sharing.

I may try and find a hole saw of the right size so I can inset the rings in the holes so nothing protrudes when I move my hives in and out of my pickup. My hives do not have attached legs but sit on molasses tubs or homemade hive stands like Wyatt Magnum uses. Protruding rings will get bent or crushed in my system.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

You're both welcome. I really want to beat the beetles and create something simple, cheap, and easy to use. My philosophy is that as a community we can find a solution to any problem if we work together and I wanted to share what I've come up with in the hopes others can benefit from it. I've used it for almost a year and so far I can't find any drawbacks. It's doing its job and is extremely convenient, whether I'm using it as a trap or a feeder. The hive in the picture is the only one with five holes. I've found that fewer work just as well. 

TxBeek, would it be too much trouble to add 2x2's on either side of the rings, creating a bumper of sorts to protects them? I'm just thinking it might be hard to find a hole saw just the right diameter for the rings.


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## txbeek (May 21, 2013)

Even if the hole saw was slightly larger, I could glue them in with silicone or gorilla glue or epoxy. Might as well try some experimenting


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

Great job! I'll bet that the trap jars would work in a standard langstoth hive by just setting them on an inner cover and under an empty super. I'll probably give it a trial.

I agree that we can learn to control hive beetles by trying and sharing new approaches . 

I am currently trying some double screened bottom boards with fine mesh on the bottom and course on the top. The idea being that any larva that do hatch out in the hive get trapped in the space between and die instead of completing their life cycle. They also dry up instead of fermenting into evil potion. It seems to be working. It also keeps adult beetles from just waltzing in through the bottom.


I think people would be surprised at how many larva actually hatch out unseen in a strong healthy hive.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

Btw 2 3/4 hole saw is a perfect tight fit, and can be bought off the shelf anywhere.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

David, I don't see why you couldn't use the system for Langstroths. I wonder if you could adapt the bottom to sit on a stand. But if your current double screen method is doing the job, you may not need anything else on the bottom. 

I just googled hole saws and found that there is also a 3 1/2, which is the size canning rings I use. TxBeek, looks like you won't need to use any silicon. I might try recessed rings on a hive just for kicks. It might be better to have the screened lid flush with the floor for those of us who use follower boards, although having pits along the floor may aid in catching beetles.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Okay, it's been since August since I updated this so it's time for another one. 
One hive ended up very light on stores this fall so I had to feed it heavily. This gave me an opportunity to get some pictures of the system being used for feeding and not just for trapping pests. In order to avoid robbing by another hive, I closed the hive up and added a ventilation bar, which is a top bar with screened holes. Once the jars of syrup were empty, I replaced them with traps and moved the ventilation bar to the other side of the follower board, away from the bees. Since adding the ventilation bar, I've noticed that moisture levels in the hive seem much lower; the observation window doesn't fog up. I may leave it behind the follower year round and see how it goes. http://imgur.com/a/3YTzK?


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

As I prepare for the spring, I have a few things to add. For one, excess water in the hive found its way into the traps. I didn't see this last year, but this year I had one hive I had to feed heavily late in the fall. Moisture built up quickly inside the hive, which fogged the observation window, so I added the ventilation bar, and the window cleared, but it seems a lot of the moisture condensed in the hive and some of it found its way through the holes in the bottom board. I'm thinking that's a good thing since it's not pooling in the hive. The bees got through it fine.

I also found that greasing the tightening rings with petroleum jelly eliminates any problem of the feeder jars sticking if any syrup gets around the mouths. I've had no problem getting jars on or off. 
From time to time the light blocking sleeves get blown off in strong winds. When this happens during a warm time of year, the bees will propolize the screen, which they don't do when the sleeves are on. My bees, at least, really don't like much light inside the hive. I use rubber bands around the necks of the sleeves now.

The bees use the recessed areas where the holes are cut out for the traps to throw their dead during winter. Most of the floor will be clear, but there will be piles of dead bees lying on top of the screens. I unscrew the jars and can clean out the dead bees simply by pulling the screened lid out with the wire tie. Then I put it all back. Takes a couple of minutes to empty all the dead from the hive this way. 

I haven't used the Coming and Going trap yet. Because I bait the traps with a bit of honey/pollen in combs, I was wary of instigating robbing since it's on the outside of the hive. Doing some research on small hive beetles this fall, I discovered that they love certain kinds of fruit. This spring I plan to bait the C&G trap with cantaloupe to see if they will be drawn in. http://imgur.com/a/3YTzK?


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Here we are in the middle of the honey flow and small hive beetles and wax moths got an early start. My traps have far more SHB larvae than last year. That's my fault. I had a colony die in the last freeze that swept into Georgia in March. I took some combs of pollen/honey and put them in a hive with few resources thinking to help them out and give them a head start going into spring. But a top bar hive full of comb meant there weren't enough bees to properly cover them, giving pests free rein to occupy them instead. On opening the hive, I saw some SHB larvae in the wax/pollen debris the bees had left on the floor. Wax moths had started in on several as well. I brushed the SHB larvae into the nearest trap hole and removed the extra pollen combs, leaving only a couple close to the brood combs. The three wax moth combs went into my solar melter. I reduced the hive to half of what it had been, giving other combs to two other hives. That was over two weeks ago. My inspections since then have found no more SHB larvae and only two adults. These hives only have three traps/feeder jar stations. I've decided to go back to four per hive. I've also noticed that the bees take the syrup faster when I can screw in a jar closer to the cluster, and since I don't like to place syrup near the entrance, that places it in the middle of the hive when there's only three stations, which can be behind a follower board.


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