SHB trap - new thing on the market (australia)

[bluegrass]

Holly!!! We don't have a problem like this, not even in the south.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfzWh...eature=related

The SHB was eradicated from Portugal, I have been unable to determine how they went about doing it though.

[snl]

Anyone using Boric acid in CD cases?

[Intheswamp]

Holly!!! We don't have a problem like this, not even in the south.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfzWh...eature=related

The SHB was eradicated from Portugal, I have been unable to determine how they went about doing it though.

We don't like to think there are problems like this here in the states but I would wager that we do...a strong hive that's "forgotten" sitting on the backside of a field neglected and left to rot away would be a prime breeding spot for the SHB. There is a hive about 3/4 mile from me that has me worried...sitting in an already shady area with bushes growing around it. I'm scared that I will already have a local SHB population going when I set up my bee yard. I'm going to contact the guy that owns it and see if we can inspect it, in the meantime I'm going to contact the land owner and do a casual walk-by inspection. Ed

[davel]

Help me here because I had a thought...What if I placed a cantaloupe outside the hive in an enclosure of #8 hardware mesh. I could inject something in the cantelope that would kill the hive beetles when they eat it. It would keep the beetle and the poison out of the hive and would kill a bunch at a time.
What would I use? Boric acid, fipronil, roach bait???
Help with suggestions.
Thanks.

[johnblagg]

We don't like to think there are problems like this here in the states but I would wager that we do...a strong hive that's "forgotten" sitting on the backside of a field neglected and left to rot away would be a prime breeding spot for the SHB. Ed

just found a old log full of bees that were exactly that bad this week ...just after it was collected the bees absconded and when it was spilt open thousands of shb larva in it ready to head for the ground and pupate .....in fact they were pupating in the soft rotting wood as well.Tell me that was not spreading them in massive numbers!

[bluegrass]

Help me here because I had a thought...What if I placed a cantaloupe outside the hive in an enclosure of #8 hardware mesh. I could inject something in the cantelope that would kill the hive beetles when they eat it. It would keep the beetle and the poison out of the hive and would kill a bunch at a time.
What would I use? Boric acid, fipronil, roach bait???
Help with suggestions.
Thanks.

You could use ground drench and after you buy cantaloupes and what ever poison your cost would be about the same.

The "fish tub" in the video gives me an idea to place one under the hives, it will fill with water and the beetle larva will drown when they jump from the hive. Place a few goldfish in it and they will grow big and fat.

[johnblagg]

a freeman trap uses a pan under the ssb filled with oil to do just that...

[rrussell6870]

Holly!!! We don't have a problem like this, not even in the south.

Where have you been?? That's nothing... one slimed hive can produce 5 times that many larvae... imagine hundreds, thousands, or the hundreds of thousands that are slimed in the US... now try to imagine what the wild (feral and swarms) colonies in the US are facing...

[bluegrass]

Where have you been?? That's nothing... one slimed hive can produce 5 times that many larvae... imagine hundreds, thousands, or the hundreds of thousands that are slimed in the US... now try to imagine what the wild (feral and swarms) colonies in the US are facing...

The video isn't a full colony, that is a relatively small amount of comb in the bottom of the bucket for that many grubs

[rrussell6870]

Shb lay about 2,000 eggs per female in an area of about 1-2 square inches. Once the first eggs begin to emerge, the pheromones that are produced by the feeding larvae draw in other lay-ready females to come to the same area as the original eggs to lay... they do this because the slime produced from the feeding larvae acts as a deterrent to run the bees away from that area of the hive... this is to provide a safe place for their larvae to feed and grow... one frame can hold millions of eggs during this period, so when that frame is removed and the comb cut out and placed in a bucket (as the gentleman in the video had done), there can be millions of larvae emerging in the bucket as long as there is a food source... when the food source is depleted, the eggs can lay dormant for over a year awaiting nutrient rich feed before they emerge.

[Barry]

Russell -

Since you are in the thick of SHB playground, how do you make sure they don't leave your place with your bee shipments?

[rrussell6870]

Great question Barry, I feel its very important to inform people of ways to try to keep them down when shipping bees... as you probably know from other conversations, we use cd traps heavily to limit their populations in our mainland yards... there are many other operations near our nuc build up yards however, and that is always a concern for me because not everyone can go through the effort and expense of fighting shb on a consistent basis... we have not lost any hives this year to beetles, but of course mating nucs are a different story altogether.. oddly enough, our mini nucs have not had nearly as much of a problem as our full sized 2 frame, 3 frame, and five frame deep mating nucs have had... again, the higher amounts of pollen are the calling cards that draw in the beetles... our packages are all shaken and shipped in February only, so they are all gone well before the spring shb migrate in...(for those that do not know, shb can over winter in a hive with ease... we use specific timing and disturbances to draw the shb from their hiding places within the hives and into the traps during the late fall of each year so we can go into winter without shb)... so packages are safe due to the timing of their production... queens are safe of course... so nucs are our biggest concern... in addition to keeping traps in all of the hives, we also use traps in the nucs... our summer nucs are pulled in the spring, so they are at that weak point during the first wave of beetle migration... during this period it is important to keep a check on the nucs every few days to stay ahead of any sliming so that those frames can be removed immediately to keep from losing the nuc... this happens on somewhere around 15% of spring made nucs during that first wave... overwintered nucs seem to pass right through that period with no troubles at all... but as most know, the most critical time is late summer... that is when the second wave of beetles come in from all directions and the wild colonies (swarms and ferals) as well as other beekeepers hives have served as shb breeding grounds once they have been slimed... so the number of young shb seeking a place to breed and lay has been multiplied by the thousands many times over... we try to get all of our nucs out before this time has started, and again we maintain fresh traps in the nucs as well as keeping the nucs as strong as possible... bottom line is, nucs are going to house shb... that's a sad but true reality... its not just a southern issue either as shb have migrated to nearly every state and has been getting a better foothold in the north each season as natural selection continues to help them to breed more winter hearty beetles... which will in time allow them to overwinter in places other than just bee hives such as logs, garbage dumps, etc... we all will have to stay vigilant and work together to stop this pest where ever it is.

[New Bee]

Does anyone know if SHB larvae leave the hive to pupate at regular times eg. when it's dark or in daylight only or at anytime?

[Intheswamp]

Does anyone know if SHB larvae leave the hive to pupate at regular times eg. when it's dark or in daylight only or at anytime?

I've seen it mentioned that they leave at night. Makes sense kinda...they probably don't want the hot sun burning down on that white (though tough) body.

I'm wondering.... If you had a hive with a solid bottom board and figuring the larvae leave through the front door, would a non-climbable trough suspended or placed on the ground directly below the edge of the landing board be a good trap for emerging larvae? I'm just not sure about the larvae's ability to climb smooth surfaces...if they can't climb them then the trough should hold them until the next day when the sun could bake them nicely. As it has been stated to me...the best solution is not to let them get to that stage...but seems almost impossible with magnitude of damage and infestation that lots of people are stating. Being in Alabama I feel like I will be faced with a very large army of shb. ;(

[johnblagg]

somewhere I saw a tray that attached to the front entrance and had a screen cover like a sbb and was oil filled they fall in and die...problem is if you let them get big enough to want to leave it is too late isnt it?

[Intheswamp]

But, if they can't crawl out then they would just die and no issue with having to keep oil in the trough or the mess associated with that.

It has been noted that if you have to deal with shb larvae that it's too late for the colony. Seems though, that as a stop-gap measure to prevent a higher population of shb in the area that in the event that a hive is indeed destroyed by beetles and larvae emerge, that some way of preventing them from reaching the ground or destroying them once they do reach it would be worthwhile.

Ed

[johnblagg]

saw a post on utube I think I guy had a bucket full of then and they can crawl out of it so I dont think anything without something to drown them is going to stop them getting out.

[Intheswamp]

saw a post on utube I think I guy had a bucket full of then and they can crawl out of it so I dont think anything without something to drown them is going to stop them getting out.

Ok, Russell....what climbing ability does the shb larvae have once off of the comb?

Ed

[hemichuck]

Bluegrass,Just for the record,We do have that problem here in Kentucky. I have lost several hives and nucs to SHB in the last year. I have also picked a bunch of SHB up in feral hives that I cut out. I was at a seminar last year in Indiana with Kent Williams and he talked specifically about SHB problems and what to do about them and he seems to think the key to controlling the population is to put crushed limestone under your hives because they have to go to ground to pupate so the limestone cuts the skin of the larvae while they crawl over it to the ground and causes them to dry out. Seems simple enough to try, and theres plenty of limestone in Ky.

[snapper1d]

Anyone using Boric acid in CD cases?

I have tried it.I cant say if it worked or not but I think it did.I could see that they had eaten on it but I could not see dead beetles.I think that it did work because I couldnt see any beetles in the hives.I think boric is a slow poison and therefore they were probably dying outside of the hive or the bees were carrying them out.I was mixing it up in a paste and the paste was drying out and getting hard and I think they were not eating or were having a harder time eating it that was.