# When to move follower board?



## AvatarDad (Mar 31, 2016)

I've been getting rid of mine, lately. I just see them as shelter for the SHBs... every time I move one I see several beetles run for cover. (Granted it makes them easy to smash, since they are all in one place).

If the bees are healthy enough to patrol the whole hive, let them.


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## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

That's kinda what I was thinking. I had originally fit the follower board and it warped allowing bees access to the other side. So I shimmed it and the bee's kicked the shims out to keep going to the other side. At any one time there's about 20 bees on the other side, while the side with comb is about 1 bee per square inch or more.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Will, do you have good comb guides on the empty bars? Usually in my area the bees aren't drawing out anymore comb this time of year, and have emptied plenty getting through the dearth. But we'll have a fall flow before things wind down, hopefully good enough to fill at least a couple of combs. But you're feeding, which I don't do until the fall flow is over and then only if I have to, so I don't know if your bees will continue to build new comb or not. 
I haven't seen any beetles in my hives this summer--not a single one. Unless I count the traps. Then I've seen dozens. How are yours doing?


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## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

I've got triangle comb guides nailed to the underside of the bars. So far there building dead straight comb, there on #9 rite now. They are sucking the 1-1 syrup down just about as fast as I can give it to them and storing most of it. Sometime in the next week or so they should be getting plenty of pollen from the soybeans next to us, not sure about nectar.

So far the slit top SHB trap is working OK, I've seen where they've entombed several and at one point I was going into the closed off portion and killing any I could find. The've been very aggressive about managing SHB's.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

will52100 said:


> So far the slit top SHB trap is working OK, I've seen where they've entombed several and at one point I was going into the closed off portion and killing any I could find. The've been very aggressive about managing SHB's.


Glad the beetles are staying under control. Is the trap baited and have a funnel? I've done a comparison of baited versus unbaited traps, and the baited ones always draw in a lot more beetles. Same with a the funnel. Without a funnel, I don't find many beetles in the traps.


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## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

Got a funnel and a hunk of banana peel for bait, a few beetles, but not as many as I'd expect.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

will52100 said:


> Got a funnel and a hunk of banana peel for bait, a few beetles, but not as many as I'd expect.


Try fermenting the peel and adding some vinegar, honey, and pollen or pollen substitute. Do you have bamboo, or something similar, to raise the bait close to the funnel and keep it out of the mineral oil?


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## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

No, just a hunk of banana peel in the oil with a tea spoon of apple vinegar in the mix. Don't know if it's actually attracting the beetles or if the bees are shoving them down the trap.


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## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

The beetles seek out the slots in the lids to hide, go into the funnel, and if the bait is perched on something close to the opening of the funnel, they are drawn down to it. If females lay eggs and larvae hatch out and begin feeding, it seems to draw more beetles down. If the bait is in the oil, chances are it's not going be effective. Is the trap close to the entrance of the hive? That's the best place.


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## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

One trap is first jar from the entrance, the other is at the back.


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