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.
I've had SHB trouble in the past and followed the lure/trap thread here with interest. I made two traps from a dollar store fishing lure box (with holes made with a soldering iron). I baited them with the lure credited to Sonny Chidister and Mel McConnell. I put diatomaceous earth in one trap and Walmart mineral oil in the other. In a week I had one SHB in the MO and three in the DE.
Today while watching the comings and goings and admiring the many shades of pollen, I observed a SHB land and walk nonchalantly right into the hive like he lived there! This time I put DE in the plastic tray under my screened bottom board with the Chidester-McConnell lure in jelly jar lid. It was 6:00 pm and when I checked it at 8:30 pm I had already trapped six of the little ba****ds. The lure definitely works!!
I think the reason that I haven't trapped any SHBs yet is that I don't have a noticeable infestation this year. If I were seeing SHBs in the hive and not in the trap, I would worry, but I've only seen a few this year and none since I put the traps on.
Last year in these same hives I saw as many as 30 under the inner cover every time I opened the hive. So part of my enthusiasm for this trap was as a preventive measure. Maybe just the right nematodes have magically appeared in the ground 14 feet below my deck and are descimating the SHB population before they get to my hive!
Also we have had no rain in Georgia for practically the entire month of May - we are 11 inches low for the year in rainfall - and maybe that is having an effect on the SHB population.
BTW, the Sonny-Mel trap is featured in Bee Culture this month in a short article (p. 39) with a picture and description of how to do it.
In my last post I reported six victims in only a couple of hours when I used DE on the SBB tray with a jar lid half full of the lure (almost instant gratificaion). No more beetles were trapped overnight so I removed the tray this morning with the idea that I'll put it under a hive for a couple of days every few weeks (I don't want the pests getting used to the lure). I'm gonna move my trap around my other hives (I only have three with SBB's) with the same strategy...in place a couple of days then move to another hive. I'll report results....
I should include a comment that using the Sonny-Mel secret sauce with Safer diatomaceous earth on the tray under a screened bottom board is definitely an easy way to kill SHB's. I can't comment too much on overall effectiveness beyond "any dead SHB is a good SHB" . However I do know that I had not seen all that many of them running around during inspections (two or three at most) so I consider six dead ones in a couple of hours to be a great result.
Also, I've used a tray of DE without the lure and occasionally killed a SHB without ever seeing a dead bee. I quit doing it because it was somehow getting wet when it rained....
I should include a comment that using the Sonny-Mel secret sauce with Safer diatomaceous earth on the tray under a screened bottom board is definitely an easy way to kill SHB's. I can't comment too much on overall effectiveness beyond "any dead SHB is a good SHB" . However I do know that I had not seen all that many of them running around during inspections (two or three at most) so I consider six dead ones in a couple of hours to be a great result.
Also, I've used a tray of DE without the lure and occasionally killed a SHB without ever seeing a dead bee. I quit doing it because it was somehow getting wet when it rained....
I have been seeing about 2 -3 new beetles per day in the DE for the last couple of days. This is nothing like last year where I counted 40-50 in the first 24 hrs after putting the DE in the SBB insert. I only see a couple of beetles inside when I inspect as well, so at least up to now there seems to be a much lighter infestation than last year.
One of the downsides to the DE is that it does get damp. Especially in a humid environment. In my area I must refresh it at least once per week. It is most effective when it is dry and fluffy (I always shake the bag good before I use it to "fluff it up" a bit).
Gene, Hi I have a ton of SHB in my hive. This is my first hive. The beetles came with my package 5 days ago. Ive read all the notes on this thread. I made Sonnies trap and the sauce with bananas and vinegar. I have not installed it yet. Where do you put the DE? inside the trap?Please explain this to me. Aidah
I dont see why every one is not useing the closed screen bottom board, with veg oil in the tray. it kill every thing shb, mites, larvey of wax moth and shb. I made this board about 1989 and dont use any chims in my hives and lose very few hives. good luck ROCK.
I went out to day and got a trap that holds veg oil and installed it this a.m. Seems to me you are right about "it kills everything.I also got my Hoover vac. out and sucked about 250 of them out of there with a modified nozzle, Then I burned the bag. If i loose the hive at least we cant say I didn't try.
Would there be any merit to putting this trap with lure and DE on the ground under the hive - or does it have to be inside the hive to work. I'm a newbie and I dont want to disturb my bees too much. ?
Try it and see. I think lots of new things are happening in the bee world and its hit or miss with all the new problems the the bees have these days. What I have learned so far is if you live in the south you will always have a potential problem, the thing is balance. To many beetles and the hive dies. A small amount of beetles and the hive can deal with them, so theres balance. Hive beetles also like to hide in dark places and they like to hide in the corner of the hive. Thats where the beetle trap works well inside the hive, they try to hide inside it and drowned in the oil. The next time you open the hive try to scatter them and watch then run right into the oil pan or you can vacuum them out like I did, it works.
This is an amazing year....last year I was so frustrated by the SHB - seeing scads of them when I opened a hive in the dark corners, as you say, aidah. This year I decided to be a good Girl Scout and follow the "Be Prepared" rule, so I got ready for the onslaught by building the Sonny/Mel trap.
Meanwhile we are having the worst drought in 50 years in the state of Georgia and I have NO small hive beetles. It isn't that the trap isn't working, it's that I don't have the problem this year - NOT AT ALL!
The only hive where I do see SHBs is a nuc I started from a tiny swarm that invited itself to live on my deck. And I've only seen 2 in it and none today when I inspected it.
So boy, am I prepared, but at the same time, I think the SHB problem at least in my beeyard has succumbed to the drought.
At the Metro Atlanta Bee meeting last night, Cindy Bee who was giving a program on honeybee removal said as an aside (what problems poorly removed honeybee issues could create) that SHBs will be a huge problem in July and August here in Georgia, so maybe my traps will have something to work with at that time!
Tillie,
I think your right about the lack of shb this year. Seems the numbers are low and some report that hives with shb in the past have very few if any inside the hives now.
Every beek should be checking stored equipment, dead out hives sitting around, etc. Now (In Pa. anyways) is the time you can find thousands of larvae inside a hive ready to create problems later in the year.
No, you don't have them all. I opened one hive last week and it looked like a bunch of little black BB's running around in there.
As per a thread a few months ago, Michael Bush was right, they will hide, in mass, in the space frame rests make between the top bar and box dado. I will build no more boxes with frame rests.
I opened my hive today to peek and life is good. The girls are doing great! My hive beetles are down to a manageable Number. I had hundreds of them. Now there are only a few. Maybe the hive will make it after all. I have lost sleep thinking about these #*^ beetles. Good night
I am concerned with my beetle problem and bought gardstar and some drone frames. I also use screened bottom boards on each of my 6 hives. After reading the gardstar label I have questions: Do the SHB larve go through the screen and enter the ground directly under the hive as opposed to in front of hives with solid bottoms? Will fumes from an application of gardstar enter the hive through the screened bottom and kill bees? The gardstar product appears to be a very potent chemical and I'd like some advice before proceeding
Malcom, this thread is 14 yrs old! They probably got a new email a decade ago, or passed away by now. J
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