What! Hive beetles in Unley! O no. That’s bad news. I havn’t heard on any hive beetles in adelaide before this.
The meeting before they had been spotted in the hills and I think someone at West Beach had also spotted them. No sign in my hive as of yesterday. Not in the tray anyway…
I havn’t seen any at my hills apiaries- or in the city. But if what you say is true- I guess I will be seeing them very soon - which is sad, as they sound like revolting little bastards.
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I can only hope they were a misidentified beetle of some other variety.
I am oretty sure- almost 100% sure that sadly no- they will have been small hive beetles.
However I was a little worried so I rang Pirsa and they seemed unsurprised that soem people have seen them, and said that here in SA it is either too hot or too cold for them to be a real issue- unlike in more tropical climates abiove sydney. So hopefully that is true.
I still havn’t seen any in my hives. I do have soem weak hives with empty outer combs- I wonder how these might fair if beetles becomore prevalent here…
We have SHB in California. The south coast (where I am) was thought to be too hot and dry for SHB, but that is just not true. I believe I reported some of the first SHB in the coastal region to our local bee inspector, and he said that they had become much more prevalent in the drier, hotter inland areas too. Those areas get some frost in winter in the hills.
The first time I found them was 2 years ago, after I had been away on vacation. One hive had more than 30 adults under the inner cover. Ugh! I have never seen that many again, but I always assume that they are around.
The empty outer combs don’t worry me that much. SHB adults like pollen and brood for egg laying. Yes, they can hide in empty comb, but they can’t reproduce efficiently. You will only get a slime out if a hive is weak for quite a while - weeks to a month or more. That is why I would rather merge a weak hive going into winter, not try to nurse it through. I would rather then do an early split the next spring, than lose some weak hives over winter and have the wax and equipment fouled by SHB. 
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the lady I spoke to didn’t say so much it was too hot/cold for them to survive- just that they hardly ever ceate a big problem here. I imagine your climate is reasonably similar to ours- and 30 bettles doesn’t seem like many at all after you have seen some of Jeffs pictures from the tropics. And even he says not to worry too much about beetles- so I won’t!
as far as the merging of weak hives- i was coming to that point in any case. This fall I merged three doomed colonies into one which just about seems like it may make it. I just looked at two others that are weak that I should have combined 2 moths ago. Just another 47 days till spring! Next honey season I plan to be my most proactive ever. Trying to chase less swarms, do more splits and brood exchanges. I want all my honey hives in tip-top condition when the spring hits us.
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