After all of this hard work my cousin and I did to save these bees the hive beetles trashed most of the combs.
I cleaned out all of the comb but 2. There are still bees in the box (not many compared to the 5000 we started with) and there seems to bee activity in and out. I dont see a queen and have not through all of this. Anyone think they will rebound? I still have the links on a myspace page at my signature to see the live cam at the entrance to the box.. I would post the links here but, I have asked to do so and all they would not allow me to do so. I clearly am not spamming. If I may pull a negative from this site that would bee it. How many times do you have to post to get to put a link in one for crying out loud.
Anythought or advice will be appreciated.
You can find the links under the videos or on the left of the page under general. Click on my signature
I dont know how many post you need to place a link, but if you will hang out on this site for awhile you will see the moderators are doing a pretty good job here keeping this site up and free of the garbage so many other sites are bogged down with.
Now back to your original question. If you leave those few bees to defend from the shb they will lose to the beetle. They might rebound ive heard of stranger things but if I was you I would think of combining to make the most of the situation. Also, I'm sure you have, but begin to take corrective measures on those nastly beetles AJ beetle traps and If you are in bad shb territory keep your extra space inside your hives to a minimum. The bees have to crowd the space to patrol for the shb. If allowed the space shb will take over quickly.
Keith
What Keith said.....In both paragraphs.
If they didn't control the forum as well as they do, I'm sure your complaints would be much stronger.
As a moderator, you're danged if you do and danged if you don't.
Who has expereince with these traps? I would like to have a way to wipe them out without chemicals. Every time I get into a hive I will find a few of these guys, and I hate them. Do they work?
Without going over ground that I have gone over several times on the SHB please do a search on SHB. There are literally dozens of threads and links dealing with how to manage the pest.
I do hope you manage to rebuild the colony. The shb sure makes a mess as you have found out. It can be managed but you have to work at it. Installation of traps does a lot to control the number of beetle in the hive and no fr ee space will help greatly. If you have a hive you can combine this with then I would do so or you will lose what you have left.
Good luck with it and keep us posted
Mick
I will have experience when I make my next order. Those in the clubs that use tham have told me they work great! They swear by them. Some use FGMO and others have used olive oil in the trap filled with a turkey baster (they say less mess) after installing the trap and check them quite a bit. They have gone three or more weeks without being able to check them and found so many beetles that they would scoot in and scoot back out because the traps were so full. No bait is needed since the bees harass the beetle into the trap, so no added attraction for the beetles to home in on.
I also use moth traps in a perimeter around my property that gets the beetles pretty well. I will use a hive as an experiment with the AJ's Beetle Eater to see just how effective my moth traps are.
Quote from: qa33010 on July 22, 2009, 07:57:14 PM
I will have experience when I make my next order. Those in the clubs that use tham have told me they work great! They swear by them. Some use FGMO and others have used olive oil in the trap filled with a turkey baster (they say less mess) after installing the trap and check them quite a bit. They have gone three or more weeks without being able to check them and found so many beetles that they would scoot in and scoot back out because the traps were so full. No bait is needed since the bees harass the beetle into the trap, so no added attraction for the beetles to home in on.
I also use moth traps in a perimeter around my property that gets the beetles pretty well. I will use a hive as an experiment with the AJ's Beetle Eater to see just how effective my moth traps are.
Moth traps? How does that work?
Keith
>They have gone three or more weeks without being able to check them and found so many beetles that they would scoot in and scoot back out because the traps were so full.
Some will scoot in and scoot out regardless of how full the trap is. They will be covered in oil however and I hope this suffocates them or breaks down their exoskeleton eventually.
I have had mixed success with them. Better this year than last. The main key as mentioned above the beetles have to run them to the trap. Some just don't.
The majority of bees in a colony will often abscond in a hive with SHB leaving a few hundred with the remaining brood as the brood perishes.
Hi Billybee
Sorry to hear your trouble.
From my experience. Force the bees down and close together, even if you put them in a small nuc or combine with another hive, they cannot compete against them if there is running room for the bettle. Many shb traps are available the quickest is the sandwich box with oil inside and tiny holes just big enough for the bettle to go inside. Place it on the top of the frames, or in the bottom of the hive.
They love the dark if your hive is not in the sun put them there.
Cover your soil around your hive with something (plastic or something solid) so the larva can't go out of the hive into the soil to reproduce. These are mostly preventive measures but if you implement them maybe it will help in the future.
The adults can fly and your best weapon is your hive tool, it works everytime you open the intercover.
I really hope you can save what you have left.
patti