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Small Hive Beetle Treatment

23K views 55 replies 27 participants last post by  Fivej 
#1 ·
After several trials and modifications, two members of the bee club I belong to, Foothills Beekeepers Association have been successful in reducing the number of Small Hive Beetles in hives.
The state bee inspector was skeptical as to the worth of their development, but after seeing their results, is endorsing the treatment. I don’t know if this is something someone has tried elsewhere, but it is the first I’ve heard of it.
The two guys that developed the treatment are:
Sonney, beemaker at hotmail dot com and Mel, melemcc at yahoo dot com.
You can get more information by e-mailing them.
 
#5 ·
They are not trying to sell it. I just don't want to "steal their thunder". As soon as I have a chance, I will try it out. One of the requirements is to have hive beetles which I haven't found in my hives, yet. When I do, I will post the information with pictures, etc. as I always do.
If you live in Arkansas, and took a class from the state bee inspector, you would receive this information from him.
I don't care one way or another. I just thought there might be someone who could use the information.
And, you might be right, this might be an imposition on them, but being acquainted with Mel, this is the kind of thing he does. How many people do you know who would volunteer to help the paid professionals eradicate AHB colonies for the fun of it?
Jon
 
#9 · (Edited)
I'm going through the workshop now that Foothills is sponsoring. I've spoke with the inspector about them and I've tried to make some up, but I need to compare them to what Sonny and Mel already made and was available at the workshop. I still need to get in the hives and do some spring cleaning before I try them.

Not to take anything away from anyone but I figure the SonnyMel Trap coupled with the wax moth 2 liter bottle traps would be part of a great IPM combo for SHB. With one a narrow and the other a broad spectrum management tool.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Small update.
I talked to Mel and Sonny tonight at the club meeting. Apparently they had some problems mailing out the information because of the large file size. They have given me more pictures and I was able to look at one of their traps first hand.
As soon as I can, I will make some 3D drawings in Solidworks that will make things easier to understand.
Mel has talked to Kim Flottum, Bee Culture, and they are talking about an article in that publication.
As I said, they are glad to provide the information free. They just want to help.
Dave, http://www.beeworks.com/forum/index.php, talked to Mel and has posted some pictures and the bulk of the instructions on his website, so there is another source available until I can get the stuff I have posted.
One funny thing that occurred tonight. One of the other members and Ed, the State Bee Inspector, got into a discussion about the recent heavy frost that swept through Arkansas during Easter. This guy opened one of his hives to check the condition of the beetles. There were larvae lying motionless on the bottom board. This guy said they were apparently dead from the cold. Ed responded with the information that they had frozen larvae until they were hard, then allowed them to defrost with the result that the larvae revived. This guy told Ed that these wouldn't revive because he had smashed them!
 
#12 · (Edited)
I have SHBs here in Georgia - the bees kept them under control last year and I smashed them every time I saw one. I also bought from Brushy Mountain, I believe, a SHB trap that goes on a frame and is armed with apple cider vinegar that the SHBs love to dive into. Every time I opened the hive at the end of last season there would be 30 or so dead SHB floating in the apple cider vinegar.

Jamie Ellis and Keith Delaplane have been doing research on using nematodes to combat SHB. My hives are on my deck, however, and using nematodes I believe requires soil under the hives. The nematode has to be a specific type. I think there's a reference here:
http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/Newsletter/aug2005.htm

Jamie talked to our Metro Atlanta bee club about it but I'm at work and can't find the reference until I get home. Oh, here it is - from the meeting minutes:
"The person to contact about nematodes for use in small hive beetle control is Louis Tedders of Southeastern Insectaries in Perry, Georgia. He will know which species to use, how to use them, and what it will cost. His phone number is 478-988-9412."

Another supplier of the nematodes is:
Jim Kluttz
Beneficial Insect Company
336-973-8490

Linda T
 
#13 ·
The two species of nematodes are Heterohabditis indica and H. oswega. They locate and infest beetle pupae in the soil.

This is still expermental and would be one step in a control program.

One still needs to use control measures within the hive for adults. Mature beetles fly long distances to infect your hive.
 
#15 ·
I'm going for a full-on attack against the SHB this year. I always kill them when I open my hives, so although I have the Brushy Mtn. trap in two of my hives, I'm going to try the Mel and Sonny method.

This morning I mixed up the lure and put it in a dark cabinet to ferment for a few days. I rounded up a few plastic bottle caps and will be off soon to buy plastic sandwich containers and FGMO.

Here's my start:
http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2007/04/full-on-attack-against-small-hive.html

I'll let you know how it works!

Linda T in Atlanta where the SHB lives happily among the bees
 
#16 ·
Thank you, Jon, for starting this thread. Mel and Sonny are both so generous with their time and idea sharing. They've individually been answering emails from me and adding thoughts later - both of them.

Anyone with any hesitation about contacting them should go right ahead. They seem eager to share and to pass this method of SHB attack on to others.

I'm building a shallow box for my hive to go around the sandwich container. Who knew when I started beekeeping that I would be learning so much about constructing things! (Robber screens last year, SHB traps and 1X2 shim boxes this year!)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Linda T
 
#18 ·
Here's the Brushy Mtn Bee site:
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/products.asp?pcode=296

I'm working on making the SHB trap developed by Sonny and Mel, but was out of town and haven't gotten to it yet - I do have all the materials and have made the lure so I'm almost in business! Watch out Atlanta SHBs.

Linda T
 
#19 ·
Yesterday I put the whole small hive beetle trap together and installed it on my hives today. I made a video of the whole thing, if it would be helpful to anyone. The video is on my blog:

http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2007/05/small-hive-beetle-trap-saga.html

I'll let you know how many of the little bugs drown in the mineral oil!

Linda T in Atlanta, hot on the trail of the SHB
 
#20 ·
I watch your video and was wondering are the holes you made big enough for the beetle to enter? Looked small from the video and the SHB I have here might not fit. So if none are inside that could be one reason.

Anyway waiting for the results on the lure, to see what kind of luck you had with it. Hopes it works wonders because I will sure use it if it does.
 
#21 ·
I wondered about the hole size as well and when I looked again at Sonny and Mel's pictures, theirs were bigger than mine - so before I put the boxes on the hives I enlarged the holes on two sides of each box. I just don't want to get bees in the box.

If it doesn't work, the first thing I'll do is enlarge the holes again.

Linda T
 
#25 · (Edited)
I think I'll mix up a little of your brew to try them out with

Dave
Dave, the brew recipe is from Sonny Chidister and Mel McConnell - they were generous with me as they are with everyone to share this trap and the lure recipe.

My traps have been on the hives since Saturday morning. I have to open two hives tomorrow (Monday) to return frames for the bees to clean - I'll check to see if bees have died - if so I'll regroup and use smaller holes. I've been very worried about the bees dying in the traps - we are in the middle of a drought in Atlanta (11 inch deficit) and I had to take down my hummingbird feeders because they were filled with dead bees (and those are small holes).

Linda T in Atlanta
 
#23 ·
I made some sandwich box traps about three weeks ago. I was told a 3/16 hole.
I didn't have that size so I used a #16 bit which is a hair smaller than 3/16. I killed a lot of bees but no hive beetles. I never would have thought that bees could fit through those holes.

Greg
 
#27 ·
Sorry about the suspense - I've had other bee problems for a different post.

I checked on Monday morning and the only thing in any of the three traps was a bee in the hive where I've seen the most SHBs. She was alive so I opened the top and freed her. But at that point the traps had only been on the hive about 36 hours. At the advice of some of the Beemaster folks, I moved the trap above the inner cover in two hives and left it where it is in the other (under the inner cover on top of the frames).

I looked at the pictures of Sonny and Mel's lure and wondered if mine were potent enough. Theirs has substance and looks thick like grated ginger. Mine is a liquid with pieces of banana skin in it. I did follow the recipe, but don't know if I should have done something different than it actually said.

At my parents' house if you follow my mother's recipes, it's much different than she actually does it....we call that "mothering" a recipe in my family. I have wondered if there were some way I should have "mothered" the lure recipe - like cook it and then let it ferment???? Theirs has so much less liquid in the finished product than mine.

I'll email them and see if they have thoughts after I open one of the hives tomorrow. I have to get a frame of honey for a nuc, so I'll check at least one hive in the morning.

Linda T confused in Atlanta
 
#29 · (Edited)
Ross,

You are right about that. Thats all I use and its killed alot of shb's. Its easy to peek at the insert and get a "drop count" kind of like with mites by putting in fresh DE and checking again in 24 hrs. If you check daily for a few days you can see if the shb population is dropping by the daily increase in drops (I don't add fresh DE daily, I just keep a mental count so I can see if it continues to increase). I usually leave it in for a few days until I don't see much for new shb's showing up then I remove it for a few days to let the hive get a little more ventilation. Works pretty good for me. But my experience has also been that unless your hive is strong and in a good sunny spot, no matter what you use they can still get out of hand.

I like to use the Safer brand DE because it has an attractant in it and it seems to bring them into the DE a little better. I have found however that if you don't keep the open bag in an air tight container the attractant seems to lose some of its effectiveness.
 
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