possible SHB? How to tell and what to do please...

[Sherillynn]

I just moved to Iowa and started 5 hives here on the edge of our woods on Easter Sunday. I generally have kept about 5-10 hives while I was in MI for the past 7 years so I am not a complete new beekeeper but not an expert by any means.
At any rate, I put some pollen patties in and have been feeding with sugar syrup. When I went to check my hives today after leaving them alone for about 3 weeks, I noticed there were little small beetle looking critters all over what was left of the pollen patties. I looked up SHB pics online and the ones posted online look rounder than the ones I saw. These are the size of a rice grain and oblong. Does this sound like SHB?
If so please advise. I never had them in MI so unsure how to treat and when. Thanks in advance for any advice you may have to offer.
One final question- is it possible they are there because the hives are in a more wooded area as opposed to on the edge of my lawn as in previous years?

[megank]

Could be SHB, but I need to see a picture of them

[jrbbees]

I would remove the patties, They are clearly feeding on them.
Move the hives into the full sun if possible.
If you can reduce the space in the hive so the bees are a little more tight in the hive it may help.
Start checking out SHB traps and bait if you need to.
They can overwhelm a weaker hive or one with lots of free space very quickly.

[Sherillynn]

Thanks jrbbees. I will move the hives into full sun and see what happens. I'll also try and get a picture tomorrow. I wanted to try today but the weather here was absolutely miserable. Then if I can just figure out how to post it! My husband will come in handy for that.He's more of a computer genius than I am.

[AmericasBeekeeper]

mingled among the bees
http://americasbeekeeper.org/Aethina_tumida.jpg
larger than life
http://americasbeekeeper.org/shb.jpg
full sun, oil traps, oil tray under screened bottom board, fast fingers to squish!

[Ron5252]

Small hive bettles and the worm things on the pollen patties are the larva. Oil traps and trays work great at killing the adult bettles. Watch the weaker hives as the bettles will target all hives but do very well in the weaker ones. Check your frames very, very carefully to make sure they have not infested any frames. Pull the pollen patties and freeze any frames with larva infestion for about 48hrs. SHB can wreck a weak hive in a week or so. It isn't the adult beetles that do the damage, it is the larva. Keep your hive as strong as possible and in full sun. If you can keep the number of adult nettles down and bee population up you will be fine.

[KevinR]

In Tn, we really can't use pollen patties. The SHB jump on them, we have to feed in small pieces.

Anyway, the females are round'ish and the males are a little longer. As everyone else said, keep a close eye on the. The SHB do not take very long to take over.

I had a 3 frame nuc that was pretty much overrun with them in less than 5 days.

Turns out fish like to eat shb larva.... (tossed the comb in the lake)