New beekeeper, new nuc, new small hive beetles (and some ants)

Hi all, my first post on this forum, and overall very happy to be here…but…
Yesterday my son Max and I did our first official hive (brood box only at this point) inspection. We have a new Flow Hive Classic, and purchased a nuc which we (Max & his mate Matt) installed successfully 2 weeks ago. Lots of rain since in Sydney as well.
Overall the inspection was successful, however we noted ants and eggs in the roof of the hive and have liberally applied cinnamon.
Possibly more concerning were a few (4) hive beetles that we saw on the corflute.
I have been today to our local Beekeeping supplier and purchased Apithor SHB baits. He advised I put these on the “bottom board” (I told him we had a Flow Hive) which I presume is on-top of the corflute.
I am actually not sure they will fit!
Any advice on this?
Cheers and wishing everyone much honey!
MvBee

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Hi yhere and welcome tonthe forum. Lots of good people with good and interesting advice.

Small hive bettles are part of your hive here in NSW. There are multiple ways of reducjbg numbers, beetle tsaps tgat fit between the frames (i use the plastic ones with a little bit of oil), chux cloth ( i pkace a square above thd quedn excluder) and many other methods. A strong hive will look after itself, you are just helping out somewhat. So another key is to not give the hive too much space until there are plenty of bees in there, cheers and welcome.

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Thankyou for the very fast response Ab2804. Chux! I have lots of that. I don’t have a super on yet so not sure where to put it?

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Hiya Mv, welcome! I’ll leave the discussion of where to put Chux to the Aussies :smile: - but I’ll be happy to share my favorite anti-ant weapon: borax traps.

Mix 1/4 cup white sugar with 1 tablespoon of borax and add 3/4 cup hot water to dissolve. Keep this batch in a labeled container.

Put a little of this liquid in a small jar with a cotton ball or bit of paper towel.

Cover with foil and secure with rubber band or screw on ring, and poke several holes in the foil with a fork, of a size ants can easily get in but are too small for bees.

Put this device right next to your hive (outside) and soon you’ll see ants going in.

I use this in my house too - right in a small plastic cup without foil, on the counter top or near a wall where I find them coming in.

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Hi there MvBee. If you only have a brood box at the moment i would just use the beetle traps. Chux cloth can trap the odd bee, so i always put it above the queen excluder to remove the (extremely low) risk of the queen getting stuck in it.

Cheers.

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I would prefer to have it below the screened bottom board, then no bees get stuck in it… :wink:

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Fabulous Eva…making the trap this weekend!

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Thanks Dawn. Makes sense.

Hiya Tom and welcome to beekeeping! It’s good you’re doing lots of observation and asking questions. Remember that your bees will take care of most pests as long as the colony is strong and populous. A few wax moths and SHB inside is kind of the same as the occasional tiny critter we might see in the corners of our own homes :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

The ants, however, are organized like the bees and their small size helps them elude busy workers. Many beeks use moats for the legs of their hive stand to sit in, but since you have concrete blocks, moats would be a major engineering job! I suggest you make a couple of borax traps to place next to the blocks where you see the ants climbing up. Here’s how:

Mix 1/4 cup white sugar with 1 tablespoon of borax and add 3/4 cup hot water to dissolve. Keep this batch in a labeled container.

Put a little of this liquid in a small jar with a cotton ball or bit of paper towel.

Cover with foil and secure with rubber band or screw on ring, and poke several holes in the foil with a fork, of a size ants can easily get in but are too small for bees.

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