SHB is a fact of life in bee keeping on Australia’s East Coast but if the hive is healthy and strong the bees will control their numbers. Beware the tray of cooking oil, it will also drown your bees that can get down to the slide out board. So I wouldn’t go down that track. I just do weekly inspections of the supers and each 2 weeks do a full hive inspection ans squash any SHB that I can beat the bees to.
SHB breed in the soil around and under the hive where they lay their eggs, I mix one cup of white cleaning vinegar, one cup of table salt in 10 litres of water and use a watering can to drench down around and under the hives, it then kills the burrowing SHB and kills weed growth but does no harm to the bees.
Welcome to the forum.
Regards
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I’ve seen some successful oil traps on the forum. And the bees should not be able to get in there and drown. That is a different issue.
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I’ve noticed that too and it really chaps my fanny. This dang beetles get everywhere.
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Hi Peter does that help reduce ants as well?
One thing about the flowhive there are lots of places for ants to lay their eggs.
I hope you are feeling better and fully recovered.
Regards
Gaz
I’m not sure about a vinegar and salt solution to control ants, I just use ant kill dust sprinkled where any ant trail or nest is found and it is ignored by the bees, it sure knocks the ants for a 6 thou.
I back and firing on 7 cylinder for a V8 and getting better every day mate.
Cheers
Glad to hear to that. I was afraid to use any ant kill as I was worried about the bees landing in it and spreading it.
Thanks
Hi there, what are these traps you hang in upper roof area?
What mesh# should I have in bottom and how can I verify what I currently have?( I’m wondering what the difference is in one size grid size to another?)
Just to be clear, I don’t hang them in the roof. They hang between the highest frames in the hive. One per hive unless the infestation is dire. These are the ones:
You would have to ask @Faroe or somebody at Flow, using your order number for the mesh size info. I don’t work for Flow, so I don’t know what you have. 
Ok, I asked her in a PM…
What are the benefits of the different lower grid size#'s?
Hiya Hunt, bees can occasionally get through the larger mesh size, which some bottom boards have, I guess because it’s a cheaper grade.
Most US manufacturers use #8 mesh (3mm grid) in SBBs. This mesh is large enough to let SHB larvae drop through, but too small for robbing bees and other pests to use as a hive entrance. Flow decided to use #7 mesh (3.6mm grid) to allow really fat SHB to drop through.
While apparently a really good idea, as @Eva said, the earlier meshes were not very high quality and definitely not ‘welded’. They were therefore prone to stretching and distortion, both in shipping, and over time on the hive. Mine is so distorted now that is just about useless, and I leave the coreflute slider in the upper slot all of the time. If I didn’t, bees would definitely use it as an entrance, and I suspect that adult SHB could too.
My understanding is that the Flow hive 2 has a “back” to the SBB, which effectively closes it to the outside world. This would solve the invader problem. I don’t what size mesh they use now, but I understand that they have gone with a much higher quality material.
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