Eastern Massachusetts (Boston area)
Hard packed clay
Normal seasonal temperatures (sea level)
Two outyards with 9 colonies and have never seen a beetle

My son has two colonies also in this area but in a wooded/shaded area (rich loam soil) and not in the open like mine and he is always fighting SHB. Not overwhelming but they are always there and he does everything he can to deal with them....

 

I live in S Florida. We have sandy soil.
If your hive cant defend against SHB, you don't want those bees..
Just my 2 cents.
The only time I have seen adverse affects are when you do a cutout and leave brood comb. I no longer leave any comb so I never have problems.

 

Westchester County, just north of NYC: Zip 10573
Silty sandy soil with grass
Normal Seasonal Temperature
Have seen a few beetles but they haven't managed to get a strangle hold on my hives

BTW, the UK and Ireland have seasonably warm winters and mild summers thanks to the Gulf Stream current (grew up in Dublin, Ireland). Winters rarely get below freezing for any long period of time so I think SHB would actually be a real menace. They don't get anything close to the winters we have here in northeastern US

 

North Eastern Virginia, quite a heavy soil, this year beetles are starting to become a problem. After the worst winter that I have experienced in 12 years the beetles are here and seem to be thriving and I will have to find a way to deal with them next season.
Johno

 

I live in Ohio in the Southeast quadrant. We have clay type soil I the area I live in. Temperature averages are in the 80 degrees in the summer to below 0 at times in winter.

I have seen more SHB in my hives this year than last. This is my second year so take that with a grain of salt.

I have 3 new hives I purchased from California this year that seam to have more SHB than the three I established last year.

I am using the Beetle Blaster traps now and the seek and destroy method as well.

 

Hey Michael,
My info is as follows:
State:North Carolina
Town: Bayboro, Pamlico County ( coastal area)
Soil Type: Mix of Sandy and light topsoil
Temperature: Normal Coastal Temps
Effect of Small Hive Beetles: Small Hive Beetles are a major problem in this area. If gone untreated or do not possess a REAL Strong hive they will devastate a hive in a short period of time. We in this area are in a constant battle with them. All it takes is a short period of Neglect and you've lost a hive.

 

I'm in NW Florida, just north of Crestview.
Soil type: Sandy and light
Temps: hot humid summers, short winters.
SHB are very bad, I've started putting oil trays on all my hives and now all my mating nucs. Nucs are much more easily overwhelmed by the SHB because they don't have the numbers of bees that mature hives do.

 

Upstate, NY, river valley...
I had a bout with hive beetle last season which I attribute to my ignorance. Normally the soil around here is not beneficial for the little buggers but when a bill board sign was constructed 50 ft away from my hives they brought in 60 yards of sand to raise the height of the land so they could raise the height of the sign. I am back to seeing just a few beetles in the hives this year, thank God.

 

1st year beek
Southwestern Piedmont Virginia
Our county has different soil ranges; rich soil, red mud clay. We have rolling hills to really flat areas
Last winter we had single digit spells in Feb, record lows for us. Summer can reach upper 90's. Humid!
I am gathering SHB is worse this year according to what the old beeks are saying. They are telling me they have had no problems in the past with them. I think that is changing. There are beeks here that have a few visible in their hive with no real threat, and beeks here that have lost nucs to them. I was sort of blindsided post spring extraction with a boom of shb. I finally resorted to oil trap bottom boards, and still have some beetles, but have not been slimed out.

 

I know I'm not on the east coast, but...

Clinton, Iowa - Eastern tip of the state.
Soil varies from heavy clay to nearly pure sand depending where you're at and how that spot relates to where the Mississippi and glaciers did their thing. We are mostly fertile crop land, as you'd expect, however.

Personally, I have never seen a SHB. I've got colonies from full sun to nearly full shade.

 

Northeast Illinois
Rich black soil (this is farm country)
Seasonal temps: http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/chicago/illinois/united-states/usil0225
Beetles here are the same as MP observes. A couple here and there, but no impact on the bees.

 

First year beek here with two hives. I'm in central Maryland just outside Baltimore and just on the coastal plain side of the fall line. My yard has clay soil but sand dominates just a few miles to the south. I had a few beetles through the summer. There were lots of them in August, like dozens per frame in one hive, but I only saw one larva and no evidence of sliming. Last week after some cooler weather there were fewer beetles, no sliming and plenty of capped honey. It seems the bees are dealing with them, but I feel I will need to be vigilant and proactive in the future, especially if I'm running nucs or keeping hives over sand.

As far as temperatures, we're zone 7a/7b. Some winters (like the last two) snowy with occasional single-digit lows, others much milder. Summers hot and humid with sustained highs in the 90's. Average last frost mid-April; first frost late October.

 

Mike,

I'm in the champlain valley just like you.(same soil/ temps, NY) I almost never see them.

 

North West California
Mild climate
Mixed soil area but mostly good rich soil
Saw 1 SHB that drown in the sugar water in my top feeder this year... nothing since

 

Southeast Ohio here, good top soil with hives located at the edge of the woods. Seen a few beetles last year however this year I have seen around a dozen nuisance beetles in a few of my hives, I have hopes that things won't worsen. I am considering building a new type of beetle deterrent system this winter and give it a try next year. Last year I purchased West Hive Beetle traps for the hives and installed them this past spring, what a waste of time and money that was, they caused more problems then they cured, I would like to have my time and money back from that little venture.

 

What did you dislike about your west traps?

 

Western Kentucky, 60 miles from MS river.
Fair climate, very few days below zero during the winter.
Heavy clay soil.
SHBs are a very huge problem here. If you make a weak nuc or have a weak hive after july, SHBs will kill it.

 

North Middle Tennessee.
Semi sub tropical
light rocky soil

We have colonies that are double deeps that have 30-40 beetles under the lid. Our breed of bees can handle them fine unless the beekeeper is getting to greedy on his splits. Or a colony starts failing and the beekeeper doesn't catch it. One of the key ways to make late splits against the SHB is if you make a 3 frame split shake in 5 frames worth of bees.

Its hard to say how far north. Like you mentioned temperature and soil play big roles.
Always have more bees than you have comb in splits or queen rearing nucs.

 

Central Virginia. Farmland Soil/Natural Hardwood Earth.

I always see a few, but the bees are seemingly keeping them corralled. I smash them when I can. I see more of course in the home yard, which is cut out of an Old Growth Oak Forest. Less direct sunlight. Rarely see one at the farm yard, Full Sun. G

 

Southern Mississippi 20 miles from the gulf.
You already know what I'm going to say so I'll leave it at that.

 

I don't want this subject to be a distraction from Micheal Palmer's intent of the thread so I will just say that I run solid bottom boards, I am glad that your experience with these traps was good, my results were disappointing to say the least. could be these West Traps were meant to be used on screened bottom boards, I placed them in storage so perhaps some day I will get the itch to redesign my bottom boards and give them another try .

 

Southern Il
heavy clay soil
moderate temps (a few days below zero, a few weeks above 100)

Very wet spring/early summer, SHB count was low. Normally SHB is more of a nuisance pest for a strong hive but can quickly overrun a weak hive .

 

I agree with the post above. In our area Dadant's sells a screened bottom board with the west trap. It goes in the back. My experience is exactly opposite of WWW. I lost a hive to sliming. Got the above mention traps. Couldn't be happier with the results. We seem to be a breeding ground for them in Florida. But that's not news to anyone who lives here. I also agree that full sun and strong hives help. Being an urban beekeeper I don't always get to place hives where I would like to. Sometimes partial to mostly shady areas are what's offered. I also believe that cleaning under the hive stand helps.

 

E central IL
zone 5
Sandy clay loam soil

few reports of hives each yr getting slimed. I see a few here and there and they will overwinter in a hive here. The only trouble I ever had was in a 5 frame med nuc that I rubberbanded old brood comb into

 

NY
St Lawrence County, aka The North Country
Don't know soil type. Farm land.
Seasonally variable temps.
I experience no detrimental effects from SHB.

I travel to and from SC and bring SHB back to NY with me. But I see no detrimental effects in my hives or anywhere else, even when they are in SC.

I know people in NY, in the Ithaca area, who don't migrate who are very careful about getting their honey extracted quickly so their honey does not sit in a honey house long enough for SHB to do damage. For many years honey houses have been considered the greatest problem for beekeepers when it comes to SHB.

 

They are an ever increasing pest here in Brazoria County.
Behind the mites and sometimes that's debatable.
Give me wax moths, stolen hives, Africanized inbred muts and daytime skeeter sprayers to deal with and it would make beekeeping so much more pleasurable anytime over the SHB's and mites.