I have seen SHB in Northern Illinois. However, the hive I seen it in was made from bees brought back from almonds.
I was wondering, what's the farthest north you guys have seen SHB from bees that were overwintered in the north and no new hives being introduced to the yard.
For example, if I overwinter 3 hives, and move a fourth hive to the yard in the spring that was from, say, Florida, I would expect to see SHB that summer. If all four hives are overwintered, and no new hive was introduced in the spring, I would hope to see no SHB the next year.
I was wondering if a lot of northern beeks who have SHB problems, have them because of where their bees have been, and not because of SHB existing naturally in the area.
Those who say "I have SHB and am from up North" may have the problem because they keep bringing in bees from the south.
I haven't seen any in my managed hives, but have seen them doing removals here in NE Ohio.
A member of my ;local club, that sells bees not imports them, says he has SHB. So central IL has em.
Quote from: oblib on February 26, 2012, 12:59:13 PM
A member of my ;local club, that sells bees not imports them, says he has SHB. So central IL has em.
No commercial beeks in the area??
None that I know of that do more than do pumpkins with a 30 mile radius. I coud of course be wrong on that. I do know that all around me there have been several people start beeking in the last couple of years, shb could have been brought in by them but it seems they are now here to stay.
From Ontario, Canada. SHB have bee found in SW Ontario (Essex county) and I believe the area is under quaranteen as a result. Also inspectors found 1 case of SBH East of Cornwall, ON. I believe they have been found in the southern parts of Quebec as well.
It sounds like they will eventually get to us here a little further North, but hopefully not for a while!
On another note, Thunder Bay, ONT, have managed to remain mite free!
I've only seen SHB on packages from Texas and California. If they survive just one winter (bees that is) I'll see few if any on those survivor colonies by the time we enter the next winter. Based on what's been observed above they're becoming acclimated so its only a matter of time before a winter tough SHB appears :(.
LOCAL BEES RULE! SUPPORT LOCAL/REGIONAL BEE SUPPLIERS!
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I think it's more than just climate. We have two bee yards in North Carolina, about 70 miles apart. The climate is not very different between the two sites but one has SHB and the other does not. As far as I can tell, the main difference is soil type. The bee yard that has red clay soil does not have SHB. The site that has a sandier chert soil does have some SHB.
We move hives back and forth between the two sites. But I suspect that the SHB larvae can't survive in the clay soil. To me,this explains why folks say that keeping the hives in full sun reduces SHB but at the same time, the worst SHB is in Florida which has so much sunshine. I think it's sandy soil that nurtures SHB, but I would like to hear from others who have SHB. Do you have clay soil?
Ha! Don't let anybody fool you....SHB can overwinter. I do have some other yards in my vicinity, but I don't think that any of them are migratory. I haven't bought a package in years.
I would think though that soil type will have an affect on how much damage that they can do.
That being said...I've had them by me for years, they aren't a problem in my outside hives, and other than seeing the stinkers running around in my hive, they've never threatened an outdoor hive, even weak hives.
They can take out an observation hive in the spring, I've watched half a dozen beetles fill an observation hive with maggots in a couple of weeks :roll:, but that is a unique circumstance for the bees/beetles.