# Got slimed....



## Haddon (Feb 26, 2009)

Sorry for your loss I have seen it a lot, and I think 10 to 20 miles can mean a lot on how big the shb problem will be in the area. I have a friend here about 15 miles from me has never had a problem and they have just destroyed my bee yard every year before I used poison. 

Look for the shb tread by russell. 
I would say that you are about to have a explosion of shb in that yard but it might be to cold for them out of the hive. You need someone better than me to answer that question. 

Good luck and remember it only takes 3 or so days to kill a hive well the eggs hatch in 3 days and thats the start of the end.


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## scdw43 (Aug 14, 2008)

I think you better look again, it is still a little cold in Missouri to get slimed by SHB's. I think it is all the feeder problem. If you don't see larva crawling on the combs it wasn't SHB's. It is still too cold in most of SC for that to happen much less Missouri. Just my 2 cents.


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## Buckybee (Jan 24, 2011)

Suppose to have a warm weekend. I will get in there and see whats going on. I sure hope you are right about it being something else. Regardless, Its a wake up call and I am going to start taking all the preventive measures I can. Thanks for your help


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## PDG honey (Jul 31, 2010)

If the bees can survive in the box so can the beetles. The beetles can slime a hive in the dead of winter even in Maine or Canada. I have been saying this for a while now. Beetle dig far enough into the ground to protect themselves from the cold. They also stay in the brood nest of hives eating pollen and laying eggs. Now all that said it might of been just the syrup. The for sure way to know if there was beetle maggots present. If so trap, treat, and ground drinch the bee yard. Ants are a perfect way of cleaning frames. Its cold so you can pressure wash the frames out with water and bleech. Once the bees put honey in the cells and clean them out the queen will lay in them again. Hope this helps and good luck.


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## Lauren (Jun 10, 2010)

Me too. 

I Pulled my IPM board today because I noticed some orange crud on it. The thing was crawling with SHB larvae and what I think was one wax moth larvae. The chickens loved them. I am so surprised. This is a strong hive. They have drawn and filled one super and I had just put on the next. I just went through them last week and they looked great. I did not pull EVERY frame, but saw larvae of every age, no VISIBLE hive beetles, no webbing (moths) and no slime. 

What a bummer. THAT was my successful hive. (the other i think I rolled the queen on last inspection because they sound different now. 

PS Mark, I am not that far from your summer spot... they're heeere! :ws


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## PDG honey (Jul 31, 2010)

Hey Lauren. The thing is that people who don't know the SHB think a strong hive is the solution. It's not. The beetles will swarm the strongest hive because of the food strores that they have. They will be hitting that one the hardest. A few can slime a weak hive and bring higher numbers and easily slime the strong. Also just a few can slime just a few frames in a strong hive. A day or two later the entire hive would have been slimed. The SHB larve defecate constantly. This is a deterrent for the bees. They will leave the nurse bees behind they will die of suffication and of robers. The fact is you probably didn't roll the queen. She just left or died from the chaos. SHB are spreading through the US. Every beekeeper should get ready for them. They are coming.


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Hi Lauren,
I'm sorry about your loss. It is very disappointing and a real set-back for us small BK.
I have also found that very strong hives can slime in a very short time. I used to think that keeping hives strong is the key. I find no convincing evidence with my hives that sun vs shade is better either. I did for while think that having the hives in a poultry yard was a good move but I'm not sure anymore.
I cut the wax out after a slime out and pressure clean the frames, expose them to the sun and give them a pretty quick blow with the heat gun. The bees will accept the frames again after this. It is a lot of hassle and it is a stinking job. Best to wear eye and breathing protection while cleaning the gear - our experts advice.


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## Lauren (Jun 10, 2010)

Thanks guys for the sympathy and advice. 

Am I reading it right that there is nothing i can do to stop it once it has started? As of last week everything looked and smelled great. If this infernal rain ever stops can't I go in and take out all of the affected frames? 

My suspected queen loss was on my nuc. could I combine all unaffected parts from both hives or am I asking for more trouble? 

To clean up any mess frames I just set them on fire ant nests, right? The crazy thing is I have seen no more than 1-2 beetles on these hives at a given time. It is not like they covered the lid or anything. 

Buckeye, have you had a chance to check yours out yet? I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!


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## MichaBees (Sep 26, 2010)

Last year, I had a hive that got in real bad shape under the same conditions as yours. I took all the bad frames out a safe distance, and allowed the bees to take the honey left. I left all the good frames. That hive seems to have never recuperated from the ordeal. I gave it some extra bees from a queen-less hive but still a bad hive. I will be re-queening soon and will take out as many frames as I can and insert from other hives new ones with brood to give it a boost.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

It is not warm enough here for a real SHB outbreak. And you are in Polk county.. considerably west and at a much higher altitude than me. I have no doubt that you saw some larvae but I do not see how you could already be slimed,particularly in a strong hive.

Strong hives can contain the SHB, our problem comes about in July and August when we move late nucs to new deeps. Then the lesser density of bees and probably excess manipulation can lead to SHB problems. At least in our experience it would be very unusual for a strong hive to get whacked by SHB.


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## StevenG (Mar 27, 2009)

Keeping hives strong is the key! BUT you have to use traps, and not just one. Some of my hives have four AJ Beetle eater traps in them, generally placed near or above the brood nest. And I check them regularly, clean and refill as needed. 

I've noticed in Kelley's new catalogue there is a less expensive version of a beetle trap. Anyone tried that one yet?
Regards,
Steven


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## Lauren (Jun 10, 2010)

I went through the hive today and could not find any larvae or slime. there was one very old honey frame that could have been suspect, so I took it out. There was one beetle on that frame. No others apparent in the hive. The suspect frame was robbed clean though, so I know it had not been slimed. 

Where did the beetle larvae come from? Could they have just been fly maggots, making the best of a dirty IPM board??

Buckeye, have you had a chance to check yours yet?? Keeping fingers crossed for you!

Lauren


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## theriverhawk (Jun 5, 2009)

If you don't have a huge amount of hives, I would recommend this guy's bottom board/SHB trap. Really works!

greenbeehives.com

He also sells them on Ebay. Has some great before and after pics. It'll clear out SHBs in just a few days. 

They get really bad here late July and August. Well worth the investment of a few more $$. I keep a couple of them around for when I see a hive is picking up what I deem an uncomfortable amount of SHB...for me, it's when I open the inner cover and see 10 or more SHB scurrying around. 10+ means alot more in the hive. I kill 2-3 almost every time I open any hive.


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## Buckybee (Jan 24, 2011)

I stripped both brood boxes down on the hive that had all of the larvae. Pulled and cleaned every frame and never found any damage. I did find about a dozen larvae in one corner on the bottom board. My problem must have been related to syrup leak.Lotsa beetles running around and trap was full. I also pulled apart the other 3 hives in question and found no damage, but lotsa beetles. Seems like most of them were hiding in the comb that faces the side wall. I am moving these 4 hives to a new location next week. Stripped out inner covers and going to try cedar mulch around and under the hive. Also gonna double up on the traps, and I guess, try gardstar as a last resort.


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Just come in from pulling apart another slimed hive. It had been fairly week ( used to be my best hive, or one of the best). This has been the worst I have had and it had 3 AJ beetle traps in there regularly changed. Another one looked week and partly slimed so my wife gave me a hand to put the bees into a four frame box in the hope ( slight) that they will recover. I could not see the queen...
It's all rather depressing and I have no explanation as some of the hives are very strong.


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## PDG honey (Jul 31, 2010)

Lauren Sounds like it was the beetles. The other hives will rob all honey out even with slimed honey. It was probably just one frame that was slimed. This will run all bees out of the hive. Beetle will also cause constant swarms as well. The beetle crawl through the brood eating royal jelly. Leaving their scent behind. The queen will not lay in these holes untill the bees clean it up.


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