# Could chickens in the beeyard help with Small hive beetles?



## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

Could chickens in the beeyard help with Small hive beetles? I was reading somewhere that someone was doing this. Do you think it could make a significant difference?


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

I know several people that use chickens to eat SHB pupa and about every other small creature that gets near the hives. Do not pen the chickens near the hive or there will come a day when you have dead stung chickens. They need to be able to escape.


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## Birdman (May 8, 2009)

I have chickens around the bees, they do scratch around the hives alot. I don't know if the help with SHB, I have nerver seen any, but I don't think SHB have made it here yet.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

They'd have to be pretty small chickens, small hive beetles spend most of their life inside beehives. Though I guess they might pick off some of the larvae on their way to pupation.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

Dr. Peter Teal has done a lot of work with SHB....after hearing him talk this past summer, I learned that SHB prefer some fruits over bee hives....ripe cantaloupe being one of them. Based on what he reported, if I had SHB problems, I'd keep replenishing a supply of ripe cantalopue, and let the chickens in every 3-4 days to eat all the larvae.

The sound is a bit rough, but this is a video of the talk I saw....I highly recommend a watch.


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## Lazer128 (Dec 15, 2012)

I am not an experienced bee keeper (yet) but I do know that guinea hens will eat more insects than chickens. You just have to be able to put up with all the dang noise they make!


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## SippyBees (Feb 17, 2004)

I am no expert on SHB.. but we have MANY here. As for them staying in the hives.... I do know that when I open feed syrup to the bees I always see a few SHB in the syrup.... or if I lay a honey frame out to get cleaned up... there will be SHB on the frame outside the hive that weren't on the frame before I set it out. Have thought about putting out bait traps OUTSIDE the hives to see how many I could lure away from the hives.... will know more about it this summer.
AND... I can't have chickens here. Years ago I tried raising a few chickens.... had maybe 50.. and never ate the FIRST ONE because the hawks here are pretty bad... would find dead chickens with their backs ate out of 'em by hawks.... Only way to have a chicken where I live is in a cage.  But the hawks are nice to watch too....


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

SippyBees said:


> I am no expert on SHB.. but we have MANY here. As for them staying in the hives.... I do know that when I open feed syrup to the bees I always see a few SHB in the syrup.... or if I lay a honey frame out to get cleaned up... there will be SHB on the frame outside the hive that weren't on the frame before I set it out. Have thought about putting out bait traps OUTSIDE the hives to see how many I could lure away from the hives.... will know more about it this summer.
> AND... I can't have chickens here. Years ago I tried raising a few chickens.... had maybe 50.. and never ate the FIRST ONE because the hawks here are pretty bad... would find dead chickens with their backs ate out of 'em by hawks.... Only way to have a chicken where I live is in a cage.  But the hawks are nice to watch too....


hawks taste pretty similar to chicken..........not quite a good as owl though :lpf:


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

I've had chickens in my beeyard form the beginning, and never had SHB issues.

But how do you know if it's the chooks or the fact that the corn patch is only 2-3 feet away?
o
Or because they're in full sun?

Or...


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## SippyBees (Feb 17, 2004)

Are SHB in New York yet? Will they live through the winters there?


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## jrbbees (Apr 4, 2010)

SippyBees said:


> Are SHB in New York yet? Will they live through the winters there?


Sippy, There are people who don't make it through the winters there!


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

The Ol' Guy in 'Bama's right.

It warmed up to - 30 and a no-good tried to steal my hives...caught 'im though cuz he stopped for a minute to pick one up and his feet froze to the beeyard.
He tried slippin' his feet out of his boots, but only made it to the gate before he froze up solid on the gate bail.
I expect we'll leave him there until spring or the Sheriff asks after him whichever comes first.

No way the beetles'd live through this, you're right, Sip

And I was sure it was the corn close by that kept 'em off...


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Beregondo said:


> I've had chickens in my beeyard form the beginning, and never had SHB issues.
> 
> But how do you know if it's the chooks or the fact that the corn patch is only 2-3 feet away?
> o
> ...


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

SippyBees said:


> Are SHB in New York yet? Will they live through the winters there?


We have them in hives, but generally are not a problem worth doing anything about.


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## camero7 (Sep 21, 2009)

They were a minor problem in some of my nucs this year. Had to cut the pollen patties in half to avoid the maggots.


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

In all seriousness, I haven't seen any SHB here yet.
Joel's NY address on his website is only about 5 miles from one yard I use; I don't know if he's seen any yet.


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## sonnypemberton (Sep 10, 2012)

Do chickens eat the bees? I know the jays and mockingbirds do...


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Could chickens in the beeyard help with Small hive beetles?

It won't hurt. I've had free range chickens and bees for 39 years with no issues.


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

sonnypemberton said:


> Do chickens eat the bees? I know the jays and mockingbirds do...


we have bee eaters ( a bird!) here and they can eat 150 bees in a day. Chicken will eat dead bees and larvae. They don't seem to get stung much either.


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## gmcharlie (May 9, 2009)

I have 30 hives and about the same number of chickens.... (in the house yard) no effect on beetles... they love the ants anc ****raoches and will actually follow me from hive to hive.... And they are great for Japenese beetles.


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

Sounds like there are mixed opinions on whether chickens affect the SHB population, but that is pretty normal for us beekeepers, right? 

I have heard that the guinea hens are a lot better for insects as Lazer mentioned, but they sure can be annoying! Growing up my sister and I raised a bunch of guineas and chickens. The guineas would squawk at anything like a watch dog. Sometimes they would even get on the porch rails and squawk looking at the windows...LOL! The chickens weren't nearly as annoying. However, we let them free range and we didn't have our garden fenced. Once they figured out that tomatoes were edible they consumed quite a bit of tomatoes (we had a bunch of chickens though).

I really like the idea Deknow mentioned. It makes sense to lure those little SHBs into range so the chickens can get them!

So far, I have found the SHBs to be mostly a nuisance in my area of VA. However, it seems that there population has increased some this past year. This may be related to the increased use of small mating nucs I was running. The most vulnerable hives definitely seemed to be the smaller mating nucs like the two frame divisions of queen castles. I may try to use more larger mating nucs in the future.


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## mmmooretx (Jun 4, 2012)

Last year I put some nematodes in the soil around my hives and will do so again early Spring. It is not a cure all but I have seen some SHB reduction here in Houston around my hives. These nematodes are also SHB specific.

http://www.bugsforgrowers.com/products/heterorhabditis-indica


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