Today I raised the cover off the hive and noticed about 30 or 40 tiny silver fish going in all sorts of directions. Are Silverfish a threat to a hive? I Googled but I was unable to find anything relating to hives and Silverfish.
Silverfish are pretty harmless I think. I know they like to eat glue like in book bindings, so if your hive is glued together, that might be a problem.
I'm having a similar issue with Earwigs which look similar and are just as gross. Took off the telescoping cover yesterday and I swear a hundred of those nasty buggers came running out! I'm not sure how to get rid of them. They wont go near the inside of the hive cause the bees take care of that, but they like the inside edges of the cover.
Sean Kelly
I keep finding roaches under my telescoping covers. I kill them if I can catch them with the hive tool, but...I'm glad i read here that the bees will keep them out of the hive proper.
I do not believe that silverfish would be detrimental to a hive. If anything I would suspect they would perhaps feed on a little propolis. They seem to be a clean insect in my opinion, roaches on the other hand are nasty insects that carry germs. I am surprised that someone is seeing a mess of earwigs in their hive, they feed on decaying matter like leaves. It makes me think that perhaps the hives are on the ground and the earwigs are just getting in and perhaps using the hives as a shelter.
Sean Kelly. I have the same issue with those disgusting, gross earwigs. A couple of weeks ago, Hannah-Davida (who lives about 300 km or so north of me) gave a very good advice. She said to roll up some wet newspaper and place them around the hives. The earwigs are drawn to this wet paper and it can be disgarded.
I took her advice (after seeing an earwig actually inside a cell with its bum sticking out, I nudged it and it came out and I killed it, I was annoyed at this intrusion). So, yesterday I put the rolled up newspaper underneath each colony. I haven't checked it, but I am bringing out a big orange garbage bag with me when I check this morning. I will post the results later on today or tonight. I will not be on the forum for a day or so, we are travelling tomorrow, leaving at 5:30 A.M. or so for a long, four hour air flight. Have a wonderful day, great life. Actually, I will make a point of reporting on the earwig findings :lol: Cindi
The roaches are annoying, but the bees keep them out of the hive proper. I've seen some flee into the entrance after the fell on the landing board while opening the hive. A little while later it was carried out by a worker, dead, and unceremoniously dropped to the ground
I've seen roaches on frames in upper brood boxes. That tells me I have too many boxes for the colony to protect and I cut down until they build up.
-- Kris