[mike haney]

thanks for sharing and congrats on your success!

 

[StevenG]

drupe, so sorry about your losses, but congratulations on the success!
As a means of sharing helpful information, did you have any traps or treatments on the hives that did not survive, and any indication why those methods did not control the beetles? Thanks!

You are not that much further south than me, and if you got nailed, that makes me real paranoid!
Steven

 

[nkhd1]

I had troubles with SHBs last year and the best thing that worked the quickest was to brush off most of the bees, knock the beetles off onto the hive top and go to squshin. (I did not use chemicals but tried almost everything else)
Seems like the cold winter put a hurt on them - may have seen one or two this year.

 

[drupe]

I used checkmite II ,which worked but you can only use it for so long. it would kill them, but there was too many to kill them all. I put oil traps in all and cinnamon at the frame ends to drive them to the center, then the bees would chase them down into the traps. like i said there were too many. I now use oil trap built under the hive to catch what the bees chase down and this essential oil treatment to kill and force the beatles out.

 

[StevenG]

Thanks drupe...I guess I both got lucky, and got started early enough. As soon as I hive a package, nuc, or swarm, I put the traps in. As soon as I make my splits, I put the traps in... and rarely saw more than 10 beetles running around... and at 10, I panicked and put more traps in! LOLOL I was pleasantly surprised how many dead beetles were in the traps when I cleaned them out last week, in preparation for reinstalling them.
Regards,
Steven