shb attack in GA. today

**Peacocks bee farm** · 04-02-2011, 03:34 PM

I just checked a couple of my hives here at the house last weekend everything looked awesome lots of eggs larva pollen honey and bees.one of my hives is very crowed and are making swarm cells that I have been removing every week in hopes to delay it for a while to get as much honey as I can from this hive.Now I was shocked today when I slide my tray out of the back of my box the left side was full of millions of shb lava! They were in a drone comb I had in there in just one week they have destroyed the drone comb and over half of the drone.Man I thought we had a little more time before the shb showed up.I figured at least june before they showed up

wishful thinking I guess.

I just wonder how many beeks have give up because of these pest? I mean bee keeping is like a losing battle, you want to put extra frames for the bees to draw if there's not enough bees to cover the frames forget it. ect ect ect..It is very frustrating!

well on the bright side I got there before anymore damage was done only lost one frame!

Dan

**hpm08161947** · 04-02-2011, 03:49 PM

I wonder if they (the larvae) could be from eggs deposited back from late last summer? I too have have scooped out a wad of larvae from an internal feeder... recently.... my assumption (perhaps my hope) that they were from last seasons eggs deposited in the unused feeder. Have you seen a lot of the little beetles? I have not...

**theriverhawk** · 04-02-2011, 04:19 PM

I kill 2-3 every time I open a hive this time of the year. Have to put traps on usually early July to control them in late summer. I run 10-20 hives each year. If you only run a handful, too, consider this guy's bottom board. Really does clear them out fast...

greenbeehives.com

Well worth the one time investment of $22 for each hive.

I think he's an advertiser here on Beesource.

**Acebird** · 04-02-2011, 05:38 PM

Why is that board any better than any other board?

**theriverhawk** · 04-02-2011, 05:48 PM

It has a pull out tray that you can fill with oil/apple cider vinegar, etc. The SHB fall in and die along with the larvae. He sells them on Ebay, too. I think he has some before and after pics there. It's not cost friendly for the big commercial guys. But for us joe-blows, they are a life saver.

**Peacocks bee farm** · 04-02-2011, 06:43 PM

well I have looked and have not seen the first beetle.But this can't be eggs from last year because this was a new drone plastic frame that I placed in there a month ago. I will just have to keep my eyes peeled.

**yamahawg** · 04-02-2011, 07:29 PM

Never say never. Harvested a super from a hive that died out middle of March. Extracted that super, and stored frames in rubbermaid container, and frames from bood chamber, inside house. Going through frames today to figure out which ones to use in the split I was making, found an odd wax moth larvae here and there. And my whole house smelled like para moth balls LOL, cause I scattered them on the tops of the rubbermaid containers, as i didn't want to throw them inside with the frames because I knew I would be using them soon. So i'm thinking these are the odd eggs that might have been dormant through the winter then hatching now. But then who knows!

**theriverhawk** · 04-02-2011, 08:53 PM

I always put unused frames in the freezer before storing them. Kills any hiding eggs and larvae.

**yamahawg** · 04-02-2011, 11:16 PM

Yeah one thing I need to invest in is a deep freezer. Not enough room or permission from the wife for that matter, in the kitchen freezer!

**Acebird** · 04-03-2011, 08:37 AM

Yeah one thing I need to invest in is a deep freezer.

You could go for a skying / snow mobile trip for a week and leave them in the trunk of the car.

**hoodswoods** · 04-03-2011, 09:14 AM

http://greenbeehives.com/

I use them with success. The big difference is that he uses #6 mesh, not #8. This is just small enough to keep bees out, but much easier for other bugs to fall thru (remember that pollen traps use #5 to scrape it off the bees as they enter). As far as I know, you can't get this mesh other than in bulk.

You might check craig's list or some other such site for a freezer. I keep mine in there until I need them - have up to 1 1/2 years so far & counting.

**USCBeeMan** · 04-03-2011, 05:06 PM

You can find the instructions to build his IPM bottom boards on his website. I made my own and just paid him for the trays.

Since I had hardware cloth, I got 2 trays instead of 1 tray and 1 hardware cloth.