SHB and rock salt question.

[joker1656]

Hi everyone.  I apologize for a long post.

I had a about 10 frames of honey left over from a hive that died this past winter.  I had cleaned up the hive and thought I had sealed it pretty well.  I left it where I had my hives, which is in a sunny part of our property, and was hoping for an early swarm.  Well, it took longer than I expected, and now that honey is ruined.  I'm no expert, but I am 99% sure that it is SHB and their nasty little larvae.

It was a pretty stupid mistake, I am sure, to expect to be able to use that honey, but in Indiana, I did not think we had that many issues.  Wax moths, I know we have to be very cautious about, but SHB seem to be fairly minimal.  Anyway, now that I am contending with them, I hope to give the bees the advantage, without delving in to their battle to excessively. 

I did a search on here, but could not find what I remembered.  It seemed that I remembered a conversation about spreading rock salt around and under the hives.  This was rumored to prevent the larvae from, after falling to the ground, pupating.  Is this ture?  Or, was it some other stuff that is spread?

Also, since we are North, is it feasible to keep my hives under fairly close observation, kill what I see, use the salt (if that is correct), keep the hive hyper-populated by keeping the hive area as small as possible, and expect to maintain a healthy hive?  I really do not want to use any commercial chemicals,  if I can keep from it. 

I have only one hive, made from a very nice swarm this spring, and have more time to manage it......I hope.

As for ridding myself of the squirming, sickening, mass of larvae that squirmed from every nook and cranny of the frames, I tossed those to the chickens and let them peck the frames clean.  I removed everything that had a hint of the beetles, or larvae from the site of my one hive.  Do I need to burn those, freeze them, spray them with something....what?  The equipment that was removed is a couple hundred yards away now, but obviously, adults can fly where ever they want.  Is there anything else I need to do to the equipment. 

And, yes, when I opened the new hive, there were 4 adult beetles on the bottom board.  They are dead now.

Any help is appreciated.

[10framer]

crush what you see.  keep strong hives but don't let them get so crowded that they swarm (after the flow this won't be a problem).  vegetable oil traps seem to help.  i've read about the salt but if you've got larvae going to the ground your hive is probably in serious trouble.  i'm all for stopping them in their tracks but remember that they fly in from other areas.  controlling the adults is the best way to control the larvae.  you can also buy some nematodes that will eat the larvae when they enter the ground. 
when i go through my hives i usually see 2 or 3 in at least one hive.  i crush them when they don't out run me.
good luck, have fun.

[Joe D]

And as for your frames, I think you should freeze for 48 hours.  Like farmer said the best controll is to keep adults count down.  Hope not to get to having larvae.  Good luck




Joe

[rober]

& next time freeze the frames for 48 hours or more & store them indoors. you can spread nematodes or diatameceous earth under your hives to help control shb larva.