Help! SHB not sure what to do

[al.lineberry]

I think one of my hive may have Small Hive Beetle, I checked them today and saw three are four SHB and a lava. What is my best and quickest way to get rid of them before winter set in. Any help will do.

[robo mantis]

Earlier this summer i had 50+ in my hive. My solution, going in there and squish every beetle i see. Once my hive got stronger it helped keep them at bay. As for your hive. How many boxes do you have on? The issue with beetles, is that you need to make sure the bees can defend what they have. My advice is to squish every beetle you see and just make sure your bees can defend their combs. I've tried traps and whatnot but they weren't very effective for me.

[al.lineberry]

I have four med on, I did squish all that I saw, hope not I got them all. May need to check the a little more often. Thanks for the infor,

[billybwf]

four shb are not bad around NC. I have seen some hives with so many you could not get them all and the hive was still working (Luckily not mine). I have made a few traps which has done a pretty good job. I could sit by my hives at in the evening and watch the shb flying to them from who knows where. I have killed many before they could get in the hive.

[al.lineberry]

Next time hope there is not any.

[Mbeck]

If your hive is strong I wouldn't freak out.
Maybe a couple traps that fit between the frames filled with oil?

[Belewsboy]

I've had my share of problems with them as well. My first problem was my hives were in almost full shade. I too could watch them fly into the hive. I moved them into full sun, pulled a number of empty frames out so the bees would cover the remaining frames and give the beetles less "unsupervised" areas and added wet traps. The traps I could have done without. Eventually as the hive grew in strength, I saw fewer and fewer. I haven't seen a beetle in months.

[djdup]

I use the screen bottom boards with the oil trays and I think they help a lot with catching the SHB's

[al.lineberry]

Will try the traps hope to get rid of them before winter get here. Thanks for all the input.

[jimsteelejr]

all of our hives are on concrete slab in full sunlight. We never have a bettle problem. My daughters hives were under trees (about 80% shade) and she had problems with shb constantly. We moved her hives and beetle problem disappeared. I think sunlight is important. Traps work, keeping empty space down helps, and having bees that are active against the beetles helps too.