Hive Beetles and Stuck frames

Hi I had about 200 beetles in my hive on sunday i put a silver bullitt in the top brood box between the flow super and a screened bottom board on the bottom with chux on corflute board on the bottom slot with a couple of drops of vinegar the chux. Went back on dusk and had a look at the bottom board it had at least 20 beetles on it but the chux wasnt trapping them so i proceeded to kill as many as i could. Thought about it overnight and went and slid a apithor trap on the bottom corflute boardunder the screen (donā€™t think this is the correct thing to do as apithor say dont use with screened bottom board) I will buy some vynil fluffy tablecloth and install this as well this afternoon. While i was doing this i had a quick look inside the hive which the beeā€™s had rebuilt all the brace comb i had scraped off the previous week. The beeā€™s looked to be doing a great job of keeping the beetles at bay as i didnā€™t come across any slime or grubs just heaps of beetles, found one frame of brood that looked healthy and had a emerging bee coming out. i wish i had a more thorough look as i didnt see the queen or any new brood as i didnt want to disturb them to much. I hope i have done the right thing as i dont know what im doing yet any advice would be appreciated.

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When placing frames back in the hive, slide them from the outside edges instead of dropping them vertical down into position, does that make sense? If the frames have loads of bees on them, sometimes it is tricky to slide the frames together without squashing bees between frames so I lift the frames gently and slide downwards to push the bees out of the way. recap: slide frames from the outter edges where there are less bees and then lift vertically up and then down to push the bees between the frames out of the way.

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Ah, now we are getting to the essence of the really important beekeeping questions! :blush: I mean it, this really matters for many reasons.

First of all, there are a few things that bees reliably hate, in no particular order and by no means complete:

  1. Dark colors
  2. Really strong smells (banana is the worst, but anything really potent annoys them)
  3. Fast movements, especially in direct contact with the bees

So, to get back to your original question, how not to squish bees? I imagine I always squish one or two. I try not to, but it happens. How can you reduce this? Here is a list of thoughts:

  1. Make all movements slowly. Bees know when they are about to be squished. If you move slowly enough, they will move out of the way. Think of Tai Chi exercises. :wink:
  2. When you open the hive, have a plan. How much do you need to take it apart? What are you looking for? Make the bee life losses count - you did it for a good reason.
  3. I find it very hard to lift out frames with no gap in the hive. What I mean is that I usually lift out one or two (or more) frames, and either put them into an empty box, or onto a ā€œframe restā€ (available from suppliers). That means that I now have only 6 (or less) frames in my 8-frame box. So the next frame I want to inspect, I can just slide it sideways a bit, and not roll any bees as I lift it out. The same when I am putting frames back. Put the frames back down into the middle of the big gap in the hive box, and then push them together gently - gives time for bees to move aside.
  4. If you lift off a whole box with frames and bees in it, first of all make sure that you have a good place to put it down. I use an inverted flat roof with an inner cover as a minimum. That maintains bee space and means that if you move slowly, any bees hanging from the bottom of the box have space to move aside. Even better is an empty box, then you can put your ā€œfullā€ box slightly skewed over the empty box, and there are minimal points of wood contact where the bees get squished.

Just some ideas for you. They can all be expanded and used in other ways. But donā€™t worry, if you are willing to learn, your bees are lucky to have you as their landlord/landlady! :smile:

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