My never wet beetle barrier trial

[derekNGA]

Last year a guy posted about using never wet product on aluminum strips that beetles can not navigate on, thus keeping them out of the hive.  The concept intetested me,  having tons of beetles and not wanting to go oil pan method, I tried the never wet strips.  Installed last fall/end of summer best I remember.  Upon examining my hives this spring I found same amount of beetles.  Upon examining the strips I found the bees had chewed the never wet coating off the aluminum strips as well as placing propolis over the strips.  This was done in all 6 of my hives. 

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Good to know, thanks for sharing.  BTW I use freeze spray for the beetles.
Blessings

[eltalia]

Yeh Derek, thanks for that comprehensive update.
I took a shine to the concept thinking it an innovative
solution, your info tells me the strip design requires
a revist. IF I can get hold of the guy again I will pass
on your findings. Cheers :)

Bill

[BeeMaster2]

Derrik,
The  Never Wet strips should be in the oil tray below the screen bottom board. This keeps the beetles in the oil tray and out of the hive. The bees should not bee able to mess with the strips.
Jim

[eltalia]

Derrik,
The  Never Wet strips should be in the oil tray below the screen bottom board. This keeps the beetles
in the oil tray and out of the hive. The bees should not bee able to mess with the strips.
Jim

Now that *is* news to me Jim. The demo I saw the guy do, and later discussed
"en groupe", used a solid bottomboard. I was not aware of this change to SBB
nor Derek testing NWS so.. thanks :)

Bill

--
(edited)
..hadta put the terminolgy right. Noob error...grrrrr :-D

[derekNGA]

Hmmm, I comprehend what your saying Mr. Jim.  Seems like a good idea to do.  But no, I did not use in conjunction with an oil tray.  The poster/inventor last year and the many videos YouTube describing, showing the function and operation only showed tacking to bottom board or bottom hive box.  I chose to use a top inner cover frame only to attach my strips then placing it between my bottom board and hive box.

[Acebird]

the many videos YouTube describing, showing the function and operation only showed tacking to bottom board or bottom hive box.

And no screen on top of the box?  People make this same mistake with varroa when using SBB.  It does no good if the bees can get below the screen and into the tray catching the varroa.  They just jump back on the bees.

[eltalia]

Hmmm, I comprehend what your saying Mr. Jim.  Seems like a good idea to do.  But no, I did
not use in conjunction with an oil tray.  The poster/inventor last year and the many videos
YouTube describing, showing the function and operation only showed tacking to bottom
board or bottom hive box.  I chose to use a top inner cover frame only to attach my strips
then placing it between my bottom board and hive box.

Thinking out loud here Derek, maybe there is a clue there in changng the
depth between BB and lower bar (frames)... the bees saw the strips as
a foreign body, cleaned them and buried them???
Any sort of timeframe you might know the rejection/destruction occured
in?

Bill

[derekNGA]

Mr. Bill,
Ah, I see what you mean by making a larger gap.  Whatever the reason, my bees did not like it at all.  As far as time frame before they chewed off and covered....I cant really say for positive, but Id guess pretty quick.  After installing for about a week I would see "distraught" beetles along the entrace trying to figure out how to get in.  On a few occassions I would shine a flashlight in and take a peep and see beetles huddled up in corners under the strips.  That was satisfaction knowing  they were prevented from going up.  I sorta didnt keep peeping for long but before winter I did not notice "distraught" beetles and was seeing more than expected in the hive.  I peeped in the bottom again and did see propolis covering the strips on a couple hives, but not all of them.  I did not notice they had actually chewed the never wet off until recently totally removing them from the hives and able to fully inspect, and which all 6 had been chewed and propolis over.  So, I believed the bees began pretty much soon after installing. 

[eltalia]

Mr. Bill,
(edit)
  So, I believed the bees began pretty much soon after installing.

eetz just plain "Bill" Derek, I used to labour for a living so no
"airs an' graces" held here, in fact you could call me anything but
late for dinner, or "Sue"... to steal Johnny Cash's famous lyric :-)))

All good info you posted, I'll keep this result well in mind. Thanks.

Bill

[Bamboo]

Dang! Sounded like a good solution to SHB, found a few the other day and thought this could be good solution. So in your considered opinions what is the next best method of controlling/getting rid of the little so and so's?

[eltalia]

Dang! Sounded like a good solution to SHB, found a few the other day and thought
this could be good solution. So in your considered opinions what is the next best
method of controlling/getting rid of the little so and so's?

I wouldn't be so quick to write it off totally as the install
was not as per the instruction, not that I see how
Derek did it as really changing anything.

Unfortunately it is something I cannot test myself as
no SHB in my yard or the outyards. Those I talked it
over with are set in using pads, with not much care
for the bees they trap. The day they go queenless
followed by laying worker their collective brains might
figure it out and try it.

Bill

[Bamboo]

Well I reckon I will do a test and see what happens. Don't like the idea of trapping bees with pads, too much risk of losing queen.

[BeeMaster2]

During BeeFest, Dave, the president of the Clay County Bee Club mentioned that he is using a new SHB Grease to get rid of all SHBs in their hives. You mix it up and smear it acros the top of one of the top frames. He says in 3 weeks you will not have a single hive beetle in your hive.
Here is a photo of the formula:
(That did not work, is says JPEG is the wrong typ of file) I will talk to Robo today and see what I need to do.
I have not tried it yet but I will Bee.

Jim

[Florida Bee Rancher]

Hello Everybody,

  I am the person who invented the Beetle Barrier coated with Neverwet and there are somethings that I discovered in my 60 hives that surprised me. Three years ago the coated barriers were installed in my hives and sealed, the very few SHB that I saw in some hives was because the bees chewed a hole in the polyethylene foam seal on the inner screened top cover giving SHB access into the hive. Usually the only SHB I would see were crawling around on the window screen of the inner cover trying to get in. What I discovered was that the Neverwet in the spray can kits was being chewed off the aluminum strips by the bees and letting some SHB crawl over the barrier and into the hives. I called Rustoluem and they stated that the "Industrial Neverwet" in the gallon cans was 20 times stronger than the spray can kits (I wish I knew that in the beginning), so now I am in the process of retro-fitting my hives with a new barrier design we'll call it the "2.0 Beetle Barrier". I will do one last You-Tube video on this to show you the ideas I have come up with to improve on the original beetle barrier idea. As some of you know, once the barriers are installed and the hives are sealed this system works 99.9% to keep the SHB out of the hives.   

Florida Bee Rancher

[eltalia]

Hello Everybody,
I am the person who invented the Beetle Barrier coated with Neverwet and there
are somethings that I discovered in my 60 hives that surprised me.
(edit)
What I discovered was that the Neverwet in the spray can kits was being chewed
off the aluminum strips by the bees and letting some SHB crawl over the barrier
and into the hives. I called Rustoluem and they stated that the "Industrial Neverwet"
in the gallon cans was 20 times stronger than the spray can kits (I wish I knew that
in the beginning), so now I am in the process of retro-fitting my hives with a new
barrier design we'll call it the "2.0 Beetle Barrier".
(edit)
Florida Bee Rancher

G'day, and thanks for dropping by, welcome :-)

Right... so, now what do you believe "20 times stronger" actually
means as a message?
"whoops fella, but here try this one" ??
"nah buddy, that aerosol version is for the mug punters, here
is the product our name is built on" ??

Did you ask what the actual difference was?
Like is the industrial product thicker and so takes longer to chew off
or is the compound in it at a scale of 'toxicity' where bees may find it
most unpalatable and leave it alone, not chew it.

Six years is a good chunk of realtime to be running a trial, three gone
and "fail" the outcome I reckon the next three I would spend on just a
few colonies, and in a very controlled documented way. Like if the
entrance zone gets to 38+C where the product might "gas off" killing
bees you need to know that on one colony, not 60.

Bill

[eltalia]

During BeeFest, Dave, the president of the Clay County Bee Club mentioned that he is using a new
SHB Grease to get rid of all SHBs in their hives. You mix it up and smear it acros the top of one of
the top frames. He says in 3 weeks you will not have a single hive beetle in your hive.
Here is a photo of the formula:
(That did not work, is says JPEG is the wrong typ of file) I will talk to Robo today and see what I
need to do.
I have not tried it yet but I will Bee.

Jim

I found this also Jim, and my device will not allow changing the extension
to *.jpg - the 'normal' format. In the end I got a pix resizing app to work it
up, it uses *.png, I think. Robo would  know.

Bill

[Bamboo]

During BeeFest, Dave, the president of the Clay County Bee Club mentioned that he is using a new
SHB Grease to get rid of all SHBs in their hives. You mix it up and smear it acros the top of one of
the top frames. He says in 3 weeks you will not have a single hive beetle in your hive.
Here is a photo of the formula:
(That did not work, is says JPEG is the wrong typ of file) I will talk to Robo today and see what I
need to do.
I have not tried it yet but I will Bee.

Jim

I found this also Jim, and my device will not allow changing the extension
to *.jpg - the 'normal' format. In the end I got a pix resizing app to work it
up, it uses *.png, I think. Robo would  know.

Bill

I have converted to jpeg. Bill can you tell how to insert as a pic here. I click on pic icon but can't seem to insert?? Help??

[Bamboo]

[attachment=0][/attachment]
Maybe this works.

[eltalia]

[attachment=0][/attachment]
Maybe this works.

ahhh, a "Yogi Moment", like "yer smarter than the average bear" 

Bill

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