I didn't think Hive Beetles were in California! But I guess they are cause I saw one today. What's the best way to get rid of them, without using chemicals? I'll squish them as I find them.
Lizzie
Thank god they don't survive the winter here.
I did have two nucs, that were raised in Tennessee, that did come with them. I used mechanical traps and I no longer can see them. Take a look at this PDF which mentions several ways to manage them.
Thanks
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjl-Zr6_I3cAhVjx1kKHbNWD8YQFgg_MAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uaex.edu%2Fpublications%2FPDF%2FFSA-7075.pdf&usg=AOvVaw22yFu9nF7E5S_62jCDt2Yj
Quote from: VermontHoneyBee on July 07, 2018, 07:00:18 PM
Thank god they don't survive the winter here.
They will in the cluster.
Here in N FL they can bee really bad. I have oil trays built in under all my hives. When I started out I was killing thousands of them in every hive every month. Now most of the time I the trays are dry.
Jim
Quote from: Acebird on July 07, 2018, 09:07:03 PM
Quote from: VermontHoneyBee on July 07, 2018, 07:00:18 PM
Thank god they don't survive the winter here.
They will in the cluster.
That may be true but they can't complete a required live stage with needs soil. I may be wrong about this but this topic has been discussed by Mike Palmer and he said, in England, that beetles are not really a problem here. His joke about the British beetles was kind of corky.
I am getting ready to spray the ground under and around
my hives with white vinegar , salt and water. Plus i have beetle
blasters in the hives.
deleted.... wrong section
If I worried about seeing a few shb I would stay in a panic...a few no issue... a lot more than a few then be careful. No I can't assign a number to how many is more than a few, it is all relative to hive strength... When I need to intervene I have luck with no name swiffers but that is relative to how many and how bad needed. Yes the sheets will kill/catch a few bees...this hive obviously was heavy infested :angry:
(http://i64.tinypic.com/fjl3ep.jpg)
Others and myself have advocated oil pans as a way to control SHB and I still use this method with great success and believe this the best method for my conditions. I played with 4 weak hives yesterday and did not see a hive beetle except, for those in the oil pan. For a newbee this takes to a lot of work and rearranging of their hives but it is workable even on old hive stands. Use the swifters, they will deter some of the SHB and catch bees. You will need to check your hive often, and "That's a good thing" especially for a newbee. I may have posted that I also use a piece of carpet, old swimming pool or neoprene roofing under my hive stands. That keeps weeds under control, plus I work DE in the soil around the buried edge of the material, and hopefully it will kill all larvae that crawls out of the hive as they try to bury themselves for their pupae stage of life cycle.
Quote from: sawdstmakr on July 07, 2018, 09:11:21 PM
Here in N FL they can bee really bad. I have oil trays built in under all my hives. When I started out I was killing thousands of them in every hive every month. Now most of the time I the trays are dry.
Jim
Jim could this be in part because of the (beetle Greese)? Or do you only have the greese in some of your hives? Thanks Phillip
Quote from: Ben Framed on July 08, 2018, 12:20:40 PM
Quote from: sawdstmakr on July 07, 2018, 09:11:21 PM
Here in N FL they can bee really bad. I have oil trays built in under all my hives. When I started out I was killing thousands of them in every hive every month. Now most of the time I the trays are dry.
Jim
Jim could this be in part because of the (beetle Greese)? Or do you only have the greese in some of your hives? Thanks Phillip
I put some beetle grease in only a few of my hives. My hives were in full sun here at the farm and they were few and far between. I moved them into Jacksonxille, still in full sun during mid day. We will see how that works out when I go in to add supers.
Jim
Quote from: VermontHoneyBee on July 07, 2018, 09:42:20 PM
That may be true but they can't complete a required live stage with needs soil.
They can live 6 months in the cluster and reproduce in the spring. Not much different than a mite in the winter that hangs on during a broodless period in the winter. The bottom line is once you have a problem with hive beetles it doesn't naturally go away because of winter. Beetles can also fly 5 miles so if your neighbor has them then you can get them.
Just got back from checking my hives. My worst had 12 beetles in the oil pan. These are the first I have seen this year. My hives get sun part of the day, too many trees for full sun here. I also use gaurdstar under my hives.
I found guardstar to be a waste..... plus you are dumping poison into the soil. SHB will travel a fair distance to burrow and pupate. Strong hives are best if possible. I see shb on almost every entry...
What are a few bees in a swiffer to save a hive. I find oil trays to be expensive and a PIA. But that is just me... full sun- strong hive- and hard soil will usually take care of it...
First year here, so take my comments with a grain of salt. I was seeing a couple beetles per hive, and since my hives are in the shade it was making me nervous. I cut up generic swiffers into quarters and put 2 squares in each box. I caught a bunch of beetles in them for a few weeks, but now I hardly see any anymore. I also was seeing larva on my bottom board trays and they gone now too, so the swiffers seemed to work good for me. I definitely catch some bees in them, but as long as the number of beetles in comparable to the amount of bees, I'm okay with it. Don't have as many swiffers in any more, since I'm only catching bees lately.
May I suggest a free source of oil pans and oil. No it's not a polaroid or instant gratification because it takes time to gather the materials and service after being installed. Service requirements are a job that is not required near as often, after the initial installation when the pans catch 25 SHB in 24 hours. The SHB caught will soon start to diminish making service times farther and farther apart. In another post, last week, I stated I saw no SHB in working four hives. One of them was the hive I caught 24 or 25 SHB in the first 24 hours. I use used casserole aluminum pans and roll the edges to fit in the space between the double screen bottom boards, which is bee proof. If you are a neato type these pans ARE ugly but they work. The oil is used fish frying oil. Yes its messy to dispose of the oil that is saturated with SHB, SHB larva and a few mites. Yes,
there will be dropped pollen which is a shame but a price that has proved well worth the trouble. By using screen in the rear of the bottom board, pollen lose will be greatly reduced. Compared to the cost of a messy slimed out hive, oil pans are cheap, in both ways. I am making my DSBB with two 4" or 6" holes in the back of the board. The reason is that 90 percent of the pollen is lost in the front half of the board.
Quote from: fadder on July 07, 2018, 11:26:57 PM
I am getting ready to spray the ground under and around
my hives with white vinegar , salt and water. Plus i have beetle
blasters in the hives.
Beetle blasters, swifer sheets, freeman type oil trays will all do a good job. Some a bit better than others but salt, Gold Star, cement, gravel, vinegar will kill some of the larva but will do nothing to stop adults from flying into your hive.
Have any of you read the topic started by little john, under the DISEASE & PEST CONTROL heading published July 6, titled " SHB: Red Light 'discovery' ?"
If not maybe you should?
Best to you all, Phillip Hall "Ben Framed"
Beetle blasters, swifer sheets, freeman type oil trays will all do a good job. Some a bit better than others but salt, Gold Star, cement, gravel, vinegar will kill some of the larva but will do nothing to stop adults from flying into your hive.
I realize this but, if I be use the beetle blasters and still spray under and around the hives I should be able to keep the beetles under control. Plus I don't have to mow or weedeat around the bees now.
I have been very lazy and did not check a swarm that I caught last spring, They were moved to a 10 frame after 5 weeks, I told you I was lazy. Well yesterday they had over 100 SHB that two of us saw not counting the 40+/- we killed. The 10 frame hive has a DSBB but no oil pan. AT 2 PM yesterday I put an oil pan in the bottom. I just got back and at 2:34 PM 24 hours and 34 minutes there were over 200 SHB in the oil with maybe a third that many larva. If you have any SHB, the oil or water pan is the way to reduce the numbers to almost nothing. My Son in law and I worked 6 hives before we looked at this swarm and we saw less than 10 SHB in all of the other hives. Five of those hives are about 250 yards from the swarm hive. I used cooking oil and about two table spoons of beetel bait in the oil. The sixth hive is about 500 yard away, and it is the one TB hive we have but hopefull it will soon be a Lang. Two 10 frame lang boxes sit on top of this TB one is blocked off but the bees are winning this battle, they don't like the lang but "We'll see, we'll see".
We did not see any SHB in the top bar but there are no oil pans under the TB hive but the Lang, about 6 feet away has an oil pan. There are provisions in the TB for two pans as a DSBB was built into the TB and I caught very few SHB but the lang hive next to it catches a few.
Paus,
There is a good chance the hive with the beetles is about to swarm or just swarmed. When a hive preps for swarming, the beetles can smell it and they are attracted from miles away to that hive.
Jim
Quote from: fadder on July 13, 2018, 02:27:20 AM
Beetle blasters, swifer sheets, freeman type oil trays will all do a good job. Some a bit better than others but salt, Gold Star, cement, gravel, vinegar will kill some of the larva but will do nothing to stop adults from flying into your hive.
I realize this but, if I be use the beetle blasters and still spray under and around the hives I should be able to keep the beetles under control. Plus I don't have to mow or weedeat around the bees now.
Knock em dead Paus!!!! Is this the hive beetle bait that you bought from the supply house or one of your own? Thanks, Phillip
I bought this bait.
No this is a lure only. I have been thinking about the boric acid I really don't think it would be detrimental to the bees but the oil or dishwater works and it is completely safe unless your DSBB has a crack so bees can enter. Another thing I have used is Sodium Meta hexa Phosphate in the water which is the active part of "Calgon", It is safe as some processes for treating bottled water contains SHMP. I painted one DSBB black on the inside so it would be more attrctive to SHB the jury is still out.
Quote from: paus on August 26, 2018, 10:31:35 AM
No this is a lure only. I have been thinking about the boric acid I really don't think it would be detrimental to the bees but the oil or dishwater works and it is completely safe unless your DSBB has a crack so bees can enter. Another thing I have used is Sodium Meta hexa Phosphate in the water which is the active part of "Calgon", It is safe as some processes for treating bottled water contains SHMP. I painted one DSBB black on the inside so it would be more attrctive to SHB the jury is still out.
Thanks Paus, Sounds to me like the lure is doing a great job! Thanks for sharing your updates! I am anxious to see what the jury says about the black paint on the inside . Thanks Phillip Hall
This is what I got when I tried swiffer pads this year for the first time. All the hives were similar:
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/SwifferPad.jpg
Concerning the Hive Beetles, I sent this PM to paus. Thanks for the update. This is my first year. I did three cutouts and lost one to the beetles. That's when I read your post about the oil trays along with others. Being that you stressed the difference that it made for you, I'm glad that I listened.
So with the two hives that I had left, I made two, two frame splits from each of these (last week) using the mini mating Nuc design used by David and Jimmy at Backyard bees. I did this with a different twist however. I used a five frame Nuc box with a divider so the queens or bees can't cross over, and at the bottom an oil tray. That way the tray serves two mini mating Nucs at a time. So far all is well. I checked yesterday and only found 3 live beetles out of all six nucs. (I turned the 2 original hives into 5 frame nucs hoping they will build up faster and have a better chance at the beetles.) Acording to Joe May I have plenty of time for build up with theses before winter. So hopefully I will go into winter with six nucs. And hopefully strong ones at that. Oh and by the way, I got the four queens from David at barnyard bees. Nice folks!! Thank you Paus, sincerely, Phillip Hall
Just checked the oil pan for more SHB. There are a few more but very few. After a closer look at the white larva I think that most of the larva are bee larva from cross comb correction three days ago. They don't look like SHB larva. This is the only hive I have that are still in full shade. Checked another Swarm trap that was combined with queenless cut out. Two deep 50 -60 o/o full. I just saw my first goldenrod so maybe they will be OK for winter. I plan on checking in two days I will get an indication and see if any SHB larva have hatched, they will be in the oil pan
Paus, honey bee larva don?t crawl. If you have crawling larva it is either beetle or moth. Beetle larvae have 6 stubs, 3 on each side, equally spaced, right equals left, that develope into legs, moth larva has stubs the length of the larva. These stubs are dark brown, think portrusions equally spaced on either side of larva close to the head. The stubs protrude 1/32 of an inch and represent an excellent means of identifying the larva. Mature moth larva can be over an inch, small hive beetle larva are much smaller. Beetle larva slime whereas moth larva leave silk threads.
Good luck with the beetles, I hate those darn things.
I am certain it was cut bee larva from the cross comb correction part of the cross comb was through brood, None of these larva were moving and SHB larva try to crawl. Yeah I know but you have to use tough love. I have had the regretful experience of a slim out I have pictures of thousands of these SHB larva and several hundred SHB. Between a robbing from a hive next door and my not getting the oil pan in, in time, this was the demise of a promising swarm.
SC and MBush, thank for posting the pictures. The results are amazing, one pleasurable with trapped beetles, the other depressing with so many dead trapped bees. But the pictures represent a much larger delimia, one that confuses beeks to this day:
That is: what works beautiful for one fella, fails for another, both applying correct applicable measures. These results causes much confusion among beekeepers. I am a firm believer what works for you is great but may or may not work for another beek: environment, type of bee, weather, housing are all variables that can create frustrations when tackling issues such as beetles. Use what works for you, I use fingers, hive tools, freeze spray, screened bottom boards {sbb}with diatonic earth, beetle blasters. Sometimes I bait the sbb with a small chunk of grease/pollen surrounded by diatomaceous earth.
Thank you SC and Bush for the photos.
@ Van. Mr Van , I have a question and am trying to learn all I can and try to be open minded as possibilities are always presenting themselves. The question is, are you having as good results with the diatomaceous earth as Paus is with the oil trays as he has described? Seems the diatomaceous earth would be less tedious to use but I am loving the results that I, myself have already gotten and am getting from the oil trays. Thanks, Phillip Hall
@ Paus. Have you tried the diatomaceous earth? If so what did this do for you in comparison to the oil trays?
Thanks men, Soncerely, Phillip Hall
I am a very patient person but I enjoy the Polaroid mind set occasionally. I want to see results NOW. DE may work as well but I can't see the dead beetles. In our humidity it cakes and requires the time and effort to crush it or scatter it under the hives and get fresh DE. AS mentioned before I work DE in the soil around the neoprene roofing material under the hive stands. This roofing allows me to mow without having to use a weed whacker or hand pull weeds.
Just found this thread about SHB's, been battling them for years and here's one of my methods to get them out of a hive. I take a piece of 1/4 inch screen or #8 depending on what you have available and tack it onto a wooden frame that fits around a shallow plastic container. Fill the container about half way with soapy water and head out to the bee yard. When performing an inspection and you find a frame with SHB's on it take the frame and smack it against the screening. The SHB's fall through and drown while any bees bounce off the screen and fly away. Most of the time I find the beetles on the two outside frames of the box, it's where the bees have driven them.
Oil tray work great and I have had success with them also.
Paus, the diatomaceous earth is applied to the bottom of the screen board, not on the ground.
Mr. Ben, I have used oil trays with great success. However in my environment, I find the oil trays quickly over come with black mold. I realize bees hate mold and I feared abscond, so I switched to diatomaceous earth.
I have used several types of screen bottom boards and I find FREEMAN works best for me. The tray is tight fit so bees cannot slip under the screen. The other types of screen bottom boards are loose and my bees can get under the screen, but not with a FREEMAN.
van, When I used DE I tried it in a pan just like the oil and it crusted over, making the crush necessary. The DE that is applied in the soil is all around the roofing material edge , then when larva crawl off the roofing they burrow in soil that has been mixed with DE. This is supposed to kill SHB larva as they burrow into the ground to pupate, :wink: according to what THEY say And They is never wrong :wink: My DSBB are bee proof.
Yes, Agreed, Paus,,,I have to reapply my diatomaceous earth,,,,, every 2-3 weeks. Or just after wind blown rain. I carry diatomaceous earth in a large used spice shaker, I sprinkle it on sbb. The spice shaker once held black pepper about pint size and is convient with the self closing lid. Whatever works, just kill those darn beetles any way ya can.
Quote from: Van, Arkansas, USA on August 28, 2018, 01:16:15 PM
Mr. Ben, I have used oil trays with great success. However in my environment, I find the oil trays quickly over come with black mold. I realize bees hate mold and I feared abscond, so I switched to diatomaceous earth.
I have used several types of screen bottom boards and I find FREEMAN works best for me. The tray is tight fit so bees cannot slip under the screen. The other types of screen bottom boards are loose and my bees can get under the screen, but not with a FREEMAN.
Thanks Mr Van, I put together some new home built bottoms from scratch with number 8 hardware cloth for the screened bottoms. I have them fixed where bees can't enter the oil tray compartment at the bottom and have a little door fixed where I can open and remove the oil pan for cleaning and reloading when necessary. I first add water, just plain water in the pan then add Apple Cider Vinegar, (the type with 5% Mother), with the water and not much vinegar at all. Just enough vinegar added to spruce up the smell of the water. On top of these ingredients, I add used cooking oil, and enough to completely cover the water and vinegar while floating of top of these. I feel this does at least two things when applied in this manner. first, the water and vinegar can't evaporate easily because they are sealed in the pan with the oil on top. Second, when the beetle falls or climbs into the oil, He is a goner! I don't know this for a fact but I am thinking that the oil coating of the beetle cuts off his ability to breath just as soapy water might do with wasp? Irregardless, they die!! This was about a month ago and so far, no mold, or evaporation only dead beetles! Could it be that the vinegar in the water works as a retardant for mold? Thanks for your reply.
Sincerely, Phillip Hall "Ben Framed"
Quote from: paus on August 27, 2018, 07:24:21 PM
I am a very patient person but I enjoy the Polaroid mind set occasionally. I want to see results NOW. DE may work as well but I can't see the dead beetles. In our humidity it cakes and requires the time and effort to crush it or scatter it under the hives and get fresh DE. AS mentioned before I work DE in the soil around the neoprene roofing material under the hive stands. This roofing allows me to mow without having to use a weed whacker or hand pull weeds.
Thanks paus, I am very very happy with the results that I have gotten with the screened oil bottom addition. I also want to thank Jim as well as others for his and their encouragement to go with the screened oil bottoms. I agree with you on this one, I want to see the little suckers dead immediately also!! Keep up the good work!!
Phillip Hall "Ben Framed"
The Ben Framed cocktail for beetles: water, vinegar and oil on the screened bottom board. Now that is a great idea. The vinegar acidifies the water preventing most mold or fungi, the oil prevents evaporation as already explained by Mr. Hall.
Yep, good idea, the vinegar makes the water acidic. Now organisms do not like acidic conditions, so the addition of vinegar is unique. Now honey bees don?t like vinegar but that problem is solved by the oil and as we all know, floats on the water vinegar mix. A triple play, thanks Mr. Ben Framed, your beetles are gonna hate you.
This sounds like it will work. I tried water alone too much evaporation and also water and oil, still messy. The vinegar will make things more resistant to mold etc. If oil for this use, is a problem it will greatly stretch the oil supply. I do not mind the oil mess as all of the results are biodegradable. I just use a hive tool and scrape most of the residue off the pan, in an out of the way place and refill.
@ van and paus
Thanks men, as my old friend Raymond Bullard use to say, "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then . " :happy: Best to you all, Phillip
With such good results, I'm wondering if it will be safe to move the bees back into the shade? Shade is much easier on the beekeeer. I'm tempted to give it a try!! 😁
I have recently been battling SHB as all of you have. Slowly but surely each of my hives are getting worse.
I want to make my own freeman double screen BB boards however, I have been struggling finding trays at a reasonable price. I did Google and found replacement Freeman trays but the cheapest I've found is $12ea and $24 shipping. I can't find aluminum trays the right size and would prefer not to use them. Size I'm looking for is 15.25" ? 19" x 1" or close to that.
I made one BB and a handmade oil tray. I screwed up the design and killed a few SHB and plenty of bees. I want to find good trays
Please post your BB/Tray ideas.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Quote from: Ben Framed on August 31, 2018, 04:30:20 PM
Shade is much easier on the beekeeer.
Leave the hive in the sun and plant one tree that will provide shade at the time you are working the hive and go off the hive for the majority of the day. You could also get a shade tent.
Rock,
You can make your own. I do. You can get sheet galvanized steel from your hardware store. Cut a piece of plywood to bee just a little smaller than you want the pan to bee. I also made a frame of 2x4s to fit under it. With large clamps, clamp the metal to the wood and Your work table. Clamp a straight edge board or metal on the edge to be bent. Use a piece of 2x4 to bend the edge over frame. Use a hammer to make make it flat. Use pliers to bend the corners. Use a hammer to flatten them out.
Jim
I use garage sale pans but these are scarce. I use aluminum casserole pans that have been use an I "repurpose" them. Bend the edges down all around the pan until the pan will freely go in the DSBB I usually go for 2" and put enough oil to cover the bottom at least 1/4 inch. Hopefully your stand is level and the oil is even, but then again we don't live in a perfect world because of imperfect people. Buying the pans new is an option because they are cheap like me. Be sure to make the entrance bee proof, use duct tape if necessary. Just another observation I do not see bees bearding on the front of DSBB hives, and I have also added a top board that is screened. We had a cold winter but not extreme, I put a cloth and sawdust in the top screed, no winter losses on 11 hives fixed this way.
Jim's way is the most accurate way that I have heard of to get that customized fit. But, if you want a cheeper version, you can simply buy the ross foam board from wal-mart for 88 cents a sheet and this will have enough material to make two nuc pans or one ten frame bottom. The foam is harder to work with than the metal sheeting, but does work well, and is rigid as not to slosh around the oil as you are placing in into your hive. You will need a heat gun, and a similar set up as Jim uses. First, you will need to determine the size plywood for your mold. It would be better to make your mold with this set up using two sheets doubled for thickness sake. Simply pre measure your foam board to the desired measurements, using a box cutter knife and a straight edge, pre cut. lay it on the floor and zip away! Place the pre cut foam board on the mold, crimp the long edges of the foam board, then the crimped edges will be folded all the way back double to sheet and place a with board laid on top on this, as its laying on the floor of your shop and step on it. This will not keep the folded edges in place but will give you a good start in doing so. Using your mold, and a heat gun, simply hold the creases in place and with your heat with your heat gun until "ripe" and go the the opposite side and to the same. Warning the heat gun will melt the foam if not used in a common sense manner. The ends of the foam board can be done in a similar manner. Now, this is not easy do do right at first but will get easier as you get the feel of it. It took me about four tries to get it down pat. Use black silicone to seal up your end joints once they are folded over. I did this from scratch trying to get a better, and cheeper oil pan. I didn't do the following but i'm toying with the idea of using self sealing pop rivets in the ends to clamp the joint together. You will need two pieces of the galvanize to reinforce the soft foam board to protect from the pressure of he pop rivets. good luck with your inexpensive, customized oil pans.
Phillip Hall "Ben Framed"
Jim, paus, Ben. Thank you guys.
I love these ideas. I'm not cheap just want to make my own stuff since i'm able.
Question is cutting holes and screening them in your bottom board as effective as the full screen Freeman style?
Thanks
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
The reason I am trying the holes in the bottom board is to allow the bees to save dropped pollen. In some climates that may be all of the ventilation needed.
Quote from: rockink on September 01, 2018, 02:05:17 PM
Jim, paus, Ben. Thank you guys.
I love these ideas. I'm not cheap just want to make my own stuff since i'm able.
Question is cutting holes and screening them in your bottom board as effective as the full screen Freeman style?
Thanks
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Cheap is just an added advantage or incentive. The best part is this type of pan is rigid, (stable), you don't have to worry about the pan flexing nearly as much as the type made from alunium flashing, which wobbles and bobbles. Being rigid makes it easy to load into your oil compartment of your hive without having an oil spill.
As far as cutting a hole in my botom board, I didn't . There may come a day that I will choose to use a solid bottom board and I do not want to cut my bottom up. I do use the same bottom board but the front is now switched around to become the rear. I make a housing, or a top area to sit on top of this same bottom board with a three sided mini "box" . This is how I make this, I add to three sides, making an independent oil box, this is made from a 1X4 (true measurement is 3/4 X 3.5 or 3.75. this is ripped on a table saw to make 1 1/4" X3/4 from the 1X4. Make three cuts, two pieces will be parallel to the top edge of the original bottom board. The third will be parallel to the end of the original bottom board and flush with the opening end. Theae three pieces will be either nailed or screwed together. Which sits down on the regular bottom board supports, which are normally used to sit your brood boxes on. Again the open end of the new box, or support, of oil tray housing, which ever way you prefer to describe, will face the rear just as the bottom board opening leaving an opening to slide your oil trays in and out.
On top of his new ( theee sided box is placed number 8 hardware cloth. I use air staples number 18 Gauge and then a 3/4 X 3/4 strip is nailed or staples on top of this screen outside edge and will be your new rest for your brood box. Except, when you nail these strips on to of the screen, make sure to switch ends with the opening. Remember the bottom board is turned backward facing the rear instead of the front, Which leaves an opening at the back bottom. Now the new 3/4 stripes will be just the opposite.
Now making the opening for your bees back or front side . Just like any other bottom board except now you have a hollow rest with screen underneath to sit your brood box on. This will be where your bees will now enter your brood box. When the bees enter the front of your hive , they cannot enter the bottom under the screen (oil compartment) if you do as follows. Slide your loaded oil tray into your new screened bottom board and simply cut a 1x4 to cover this rear opening and screw it into place. The new oil box is now completely Bee proof. Your brood box will be placed on top of this contraption as your new bottom board . To clean out simply unscrew one side , slide the 1x4 up on the unscrewed end , and slide out your oil tray and reload .. Easy and 1,2,3. Good luck !
Phillip Hall "Ben Framed"
With all the help and suggestions I finally was able to come up with this. Its very sturdy and we will see this week if they make good oil trays..
Thank's everyone..(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180902/b36e99e9f2d41a800b5027aa1b510eb8.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180902/632ed22763846948ee5b332649733ae9.jpg)
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
The casserole pans are strong enough if the sides are rolled, if you make a tight roll they are very sturdy.
Quote from: sawdstmakr on September 01, 2018, 10:24:21 AM
Rock,
You can make your own. I do. You can get sheet galvanized steel from your hardware store. Cut a piece of plywood to bee just a little smaller than you want the pan to bee. I also made a frame of 2x4s to fit under it. With large clamps, clamp the metal to the wood and Your work table. Clamp a straight edge board or metal on the edge to be bent. Use a piece of 2x4 to bend the edge over frame. Use a hammer to make make it flat. Use pliers to bend the corners. Use a hammer to flatten them out.
Jim
Jim, at the next Bee-fest, I would request an activity for an "rain day" or other unscheduled time. Your hive bottoms with the drawers are fantastic, and it would be cool to have a workshop where we divvy up the labor and bang out a whole bunch of them.
Quote from: rockink on September 02, 2018, 06:51:56 PM
With all the help and suggestions I finally was able to come up with this. Its very sturdy and we will see this week if they make good oil trays..
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Thanks rockink, let us know how things work out for you.....
Quote from: yes2matt on September 02, 2018, 10:28:57 PM
Quote from: sawdstmakr on September 01, 2018, 10:24:21 AM
Rock,
You can make your own. I do. You can get sheet galvanized steel from your hardware store. Cut a piece of plywood to bee just a little smaller than you want the pan to bee. I also made a frame of 2x4s to fit under it. With large clamps, clamp the metal to the wood and Your work table. Clamp a straight edge board or metal on the edge to be bent. Use a piece of 2x4 to bend the edge over frame. Use a hammer to make make it flat. Use pliers to bend the corners. Use a hammer to flatten them out.
Jim
Jim, at the next Bee-fest, I would request an activity for an "rain day" or other unscheduled time. Your hive bottoms with the drawers are fantastic, and it would be cool to have a workshop where we divvy up the labor and bang out a whole bunch of them.
Sounds good to me. I have exhausted all of my tops and bottoms.
Jim
Jim, would you mind sharing pictures or plans of your bottom boards?
Thanks
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I drew up a set of plans and had them in my work shop before I moved here. I will see if I can find them. I tried to post them on BeeMaster several years ago but they were very faint and did not show up. If I find them, I will use a marker to darken the lines and try posting them again.
Jim
Sounds good! I'm putting my freeman style board in to SketchUp and will share also if I get past the latency issues I'm dealing with.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I use cheap 11 x 17 cookie sheet pans. I buy them on sale for under $5 each.
@ paus and Jim For that matter anyone else who would like to add their reply and input. In the previous reply, number 60, cao told and showed how he set up his sbb along with the size of the pan he uses. By the way (good looking job cao). Now my question to you two, Jim since you make your own pans, do you make them wall to wall and end to end? Or is yours placed kind of like cao's? Paus you are using the casserole type aluminum pans. What size are you using? I am assuming yours are not wall to wall and end to end because you are talking about moving your pans to the later part of the entrance for the sake of preserving pollen? Both of you are having success with your pans. I am just interested in the diversity of different designs. Thanks for your input. Sincerely, Phillip Hall
Phil,
My pans fit side to side with very little space to slide. The back of the pan is screwed to a board that exactly closes up the back entrance. The board has a knob on it for putting it out. The front is shorter than the slot the tray fits into but is big enough to catch anything that drops out of the hive. The opening is under the landing board.
Jim
Here is my bottom board that I ended up going with. It very similar to many that I have seen.. However I could never find any that spelled it out like this.
That is almost identical to my design. No, I have not seen this one before. 😃
It does not show the tray. My trays are screwed to a board that fits into the back opening. I put a screen directly below the tray.
Jim
LoL.. I just let the first coat dry on this one. For the back i just used a pine 1x4 and then used a drywall screw (which will be replaced with a thumb screw) and then used gorilla tape for hinges.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180904/b41b68a8d89186ce3f2d19366d688c7f.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180904/c798be7f0bbc395903e6da3a94d25914.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180904/54715f046c4c9aa80837ab710ac586da.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180904/01db9b67656034295ac4630535842940.jpg)
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
When does the hive beetle (season) tapper off or does it?
So I have DSBB on 3 of my hives now.. Needless to say the girls didn't care for me switching their bottom board. :)
My question is do I need to be concerned about seeing pollen in the bottom boards?
If so what are some ideas to address that? I have thought of a few just want to see if there were others.
Thanks
Rocklink,
The bees are constantly dropping pollen. You can reduce the drop by adding top entrance.
Jim
Thanks Jim. I have already done that with 1 hive and they very rarely use the bottom entrance now. So when I add the top entrance is it okay to reduce the lower entrance more?
I've also contemplated just screening the bottom entrance all together.
Rockink I like a reduced bottom entrance for bees to remove trash and dead bees and easy to guard.
Good point! I forgot about the house keeping. Speaking of that I was in one hive today and I had 1 bee making a fuss and I realized he was riding the back of another bee and then I noticed he was trying to git rid of that bee since it had a messed up wing. I have seen them carry off dead bees but never a live one.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Rocklink,
I use both top and bottom entrances. Both are reduced. Michael Bush uses just top entrances. You can do either.
Jim
Why is it that you over look the most obvious? Top entrance is easier than rebuilding the DSBB, to save pollen I am going to try a top entrance and close the bottom to a minimum. Top entrances usually have no landing board, I always thought that was an added luxury for the bees but my only Top Bar only has holes for the bees to target upon return and they do this very well. Todays philosophy " Don't just have a thought, THINK". Good idea Jim.
LoL.. your right paus! I just stood there and watched my hive with the top entrance. They nail the landing every time. They don't need no landing board!
My biggest problem is over thinking everything. Sometimes just keeping it simple is okay!