Asian Ladybugs

[Ross]

Anybody else finding Asian ladybugs in their hives? Any idea if they are beneficial or a problem? I know they eat lots of very small insects, like scale and mealy bugs on plants. They are very prolific here and show up in the thousands in the fall, invading the house and the shop. When I did my last (only) OA treatment a few weeks ago, I found some in the hives.

[MountainCamp]

They do not have any impact on the hive. They are only looking for a place to over winter. In the spring they will be gone again till next fall.

[dcwilliams]

We had literally millions of them on our house this fall. The house was covered with them, and there were probably 5 or 6 of these "ladybugs" every square inch. It was very anoying. I don't know if they are benificial or not, but I managed to kill from 50 to 100 a day in my house.

Chris

[kayakdg]

Hi, A cordless dust buster works well to take care of those lady bugs that get into the house. Just vac the littie buggers up.
Thanks Dan

[Michael Bush]

I have found some in the hives. When I was extracting for a friend I found some on the combs of honey. they do seem to eat some honey, but not much. I haven't seen a lot of them in any given hive though.

[justgojumpit]

about the insect eating... i wonder if they feed on varroa mites? that would be awesome! they could join in the cluster and eat everyone's mites for them... symbiotic relationship anyone? This could be what is happening. it would be interesting to see what the mite counts are on these hives come spring, if not treated with oxalic acid in the fall, compared to hives without ladybugs, not treated with oxalic acid in the fall. anybody want to experiment? i would, but i dont have enough hives and i don't have enough ladybugs!

justgojumpit

[Michael Bush]

I think the idea is appealing but I've been here for several years, there were always a LOT of asian ladybugs and lost all my bees to Varroa twice.