Diatomaceous earth in bottom tray?

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I live in Virginia, and my hive came out strong from the winter but I can’t seem to get rid of those darn beetles. I was wondering if I put a light layer of the diatomaceous earth on the bottom tray of my flow hive if that would help without harming the bees?

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I wouldn’t do it. Bees often find a way into the tray area, and then it would be tracked into the hive with bad results for the bees. You could try putting a shallow layer of mineral oil in the tray, or I like to use in-hive beetle traps (Beetle Blaster), which you can discard when they get icky with dead bugs.

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I was just researching this too. And Dawn is right. Bees are too clever for their own good. They find ways to track it into the house and cause more issues than it solves. I am still looking for a way to prevent it before they get my hive too.

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Hi Amy, what numbers of beetles are you seeing? I also see lots of beetles in my hives, but it never worries me as long as I keep the worker populations strong, and limit the drone populations to relatively low.

Drones do no work in the hive, which includes defending. Workers will chase beetles into hiding places and prevent them from laying eggs in brood, dead bees or pollen. Make sure that any frames containing brood or pollen has a healthy covering of worker bees on them.

Avoid large honey spills onto the brood & also avoid trapping bees when returning frames after an inspection.

Be forever mindful of beetles when adopting any strategy. Be especially mindful after a colony has swarmed.

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Thank you, that was a concern of mine as well.

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I don’t see a whole lot of them, mainly wanting to get a jump on them early in the season. I asking read that ash around the outside of the hive can help, will prevent them from being able to lay eggs in the dirt or the larvea from coming up out of the ground and getting into the hive.

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As far as I know they only go through metamorphosis in the soil. They lay eggs inside the hive, which is where a strong worker population comes into play. The trick is to prevent them from laying eggs inside the hive so that no grubs can make it to the soil where they will complete their life cycle.

If we prevent them from breeding inside our own hives, the only beetles we see are from other hives.

I’m finding scores of beetles in hives at one location, which indicates to me that a nearby hive has slimed out, creating a “beetle bomb”.

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