SHB WORKSHOP EASTERN NEBRASKA

trapperbob · October 21, 2007, 01:19:31 PM

To all Eastern Nebraska beekeepers and anyone else that is interested, apparently a couple of cases of small hive beetle (SHB) have been found in eastern Nebraska and Dr Marion Ellis will conducting a beekeepers workshop regarding the small hive beetle (SHB) on Oct. 27th of 2007, from 10am to noon at the Lancaster county extension office, 444 Cherry Creek Rd. Suite A Lincoln Nebraska, 68528. As we all know this is a very destructive creature and should be stopped at all cost.

Understudy · October 21, 2007, 01:30:36 PM

Michael better watch out. He may end up with some visitors.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

Michael Bush · October 21, 2007, 09:32:06 PM

Unwelcome visitors....

I guess I better wax dip the rest of that PermaComb...

tillie · October 21, 2007, 09:57:37 PM

Anyone who goes to that workshop, please post here what you learn. I have a deep-seated disgust for the SHB and am somewhat powerless in the face of it....but a strong hive just takes the SHB in stride as they do most other pests.

Linda T in Atlanta

hooyaman · October 25, 2007, 11:19:20 AM

>get rid of the shb at all costs.
That's what I'm talking about. I don't like the idea of the shb in any of my hives. Just having any at all spells danger. I got rid of the shb in all my hives, but I had to resort to using check-mite to do it, on to of using the shb trap. But the thing is they will be back next year and the next and the next until the farmers start using chemicals on their crops that will kill the shb and bring them to the point of extinction. Wax moths are bad enough, but the shb seems to get by the guard bees and their presence don't seem to bother the bees at all. I hate them. Just the site of them being in my hives, and seeing them crawling over the honey stores just seems nasty to me. Hope someone finds a cure for the problem soon.
Jeff

qa33010 · October 29, 2007, 01:40:53 AM

You'ld have really been erked if you saw the video I saw where a nurse bee was feeding a SHB. :-x

Michael Bush · October 29, 2007, 07:46:01 AM

The workshop was the usual information about Small Hive Beetle, which if you hadn't been paying attention was important to hear. I think the discussion afterwards was more useful. Basically they have probably been here for some time but have only recently been officially identified. Because of our cold winters (at least in the past) and our clay soil, they will probably be more of a nuisance than a major pest. Probably the big issue is that you can't harvest and then take your time getting around to extracting. A humidity controlled environment to store the supers in would be very helpful too as the larvae don't seem to do well below 50% humidity. It seems like weak hives (which would include observation hives and mating nucs both of which I have) are susceptible but strong ones don't seem to have a problem.

tillie · October 29, 2007, 12:10:43 PM

Thanks for the update, Michael. I've observed around here that when the nights cool off (below 50 degrees F), as they have recently, the numbers of SHB diminishes quickly. I took one of the traps out of one of my hives because the numbers were not significant anymore.

I have had them running all over my two strong hives and not had any effect in the honey supers or the brood areas. I do find that feeding the bees, also feeds the SHBs - when I put a feeding jar in my hive, the screw lid of the jar is where the beetles hang out - too small a space for bees to be after them. But when I removed two ziploc bags of honey last week, there were no SHBs in or on the bag where the honey had been - instead, they were hanging out in the ziploc part of the bag above the zipper part but inside the plastic where the bees couldn't get to them......clever little critters, these SHBs.

The camera focused on the bees in the background, but you can see the SHBs in the plastic zip area.

Linda T in Atlanta

DennisB · October 29, 2007, 03:13:56 PM

MB
Will freezing the frames kill the SHB larva if there is any? I had heard about the larva from the wax moth possibly being in the honey before but had not heard anything about the SHB. I guess I should ask if it is the larva that would be there or eggs?

Thanks
Dennis

tillie · October 29, 2007, 03:17:27 PM

I'm not Michael, but I understood that the SHB live in the soil under the hive - they don't pupate in the hive. This is why people are using nematodes in the soil to combat the SHB. But they'll fly a long distance to reach your hive.

Linda T in Atlanta

Michael Bush · October 29, 2007, 08:43:39 PM

>Will freezing the frames kill the SHB larva if there is any?

Yes.

> I had heard about the larva from the wax moth possibly being in the honey before but had not heard anything about the SHB.

Yes, there could be eggs in the honey.

> I guess I should ask if it is the larva that would be there or eggs?

Either. But if you are pulling honey off of strong hives, the odds are if there is any, it's just eggs when you pull it. But if the humidity is above 50% the eggs will shortly hatch and you'll have SHB larvae everywhere.