It was easy enough to clean with warm water and dishwashing liquid. Getting the SHB grubs out of the flutes was a little bit harder though. Some of them flushed out and others stayed there, but Im pretty sure that the hot water kill them.
If you soak insects under the surface of soapy water for 10 mins or more, most of them will die. That includes maggots, grubs and larvae - their spiracles stop working in soapy water, because you break the surface tension. Effectively they are drowning/suffocating.
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Mine is made out of pressboard which is the only thing I can get that is thin enough to fit. Pressboard swells and gets soggy with rain so I had a hard time pulling mine out as well. It was soggy and had to be ripped out with plyers in pieces. I am thinking about trying plastic panelling next year, the stuff you can buy to go over fluorescent ceiling panel lights.
I would think pressboard would be fine if you varnish it or paint it with an outdoor paint or some other sealant.
Eviidently my hive beetles donāt realise they are supposed to drown this way. I immersed some nuc bottom boards which had dozens of the critters hiding in the dark corners. I soaked each end of the boards for 15 minutes. There were lots of dead beetles but a few swimmers. I think I will go back to the two day freezer treatment followed by a good hose out.
Wow! Even with detergent in the water? Amazing!
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What I didnāt do was fully submerge the beetles themselves. You suggested āā¦under the surface of soapy waterā¦ā and the bucket of soapy water I used wasnāt deep enough to fully submerge the boards. It was still a very useful way to dislodge the critters and most of them died.
Thanks for the suggestion.
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I think I have decided to put my coreflute in the lower slot: and to leave it there. The only issue with that is the gap at the back that lets air in- good perhaps in summer but not so good in winter. I plan to make a little bung- that i can fit in the gap to block it.
Other than getting stuck: I worry that the coreflute in the top slot acts like a guillotine- chopping of bee legs when it is inserted? If you look under there you can always see millions of legs hanging through the wire.
My only concern is that bees might be able to squeeze through the wire and get trapped in the cavity. Perhaps I will leave an escape hole in my bungā¦
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I used my large metal square, itās 2ā on the long leg. With my board in the bottom slot and unable to budge it with 2 pair of pliers, I used the square as a āleverā to break the propolis loose from the slots. Hot water/soap wouldnāt clean it off, but my pocket knife did. Too much of that stuff in the slots to get the board back in the top one, so I slid it in the bottom. For winter Iām going to get a pce. of plywood the right thickness and just slide it on top of my bottom board.
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Sorry for the delay, On the top.
Mine was also on the top. Hereās a photo of it. Iām glad I found this thread and followed the good advice to use the flow key to slide carefully in and un-stick things (thanks @Dawn_SD). Iāve put it back on the bottom for today, while the bees clean it up under there and do what they need to, but with another hot spell (high 30ās C) about to start Iāll be putting it back into the top slot in the morning to help keep the hot air out of the hive.
I found the razor type scraper thingo I use on my glass-top stove and the ovenās glass door was perfect for removing all the sticky propolis on the board followed up by a wipe down with orange essential oil and finished off with a gentle soapy water wash and rinse off. Good as new.
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Sounds like the bees made the solid bottom board theyād always desired.
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Thatās what I thought too R_H_C. Iāve left the board into the lower space this time, and have just come in from blocking up the gap above it to stop hot air getting in there. Itās seems it is what they wanted too, itās not even 9:30 AM and itās already 34 degrees outside. They were busy trying to propolis up the gap when I got there. This way they can still drop debris through the mesh and I can still pull out the board to clean it.
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Yep: Imagine elevating your house 1 foot but leaving the floor in itās original position lol. āSense it does not makeā -Yoda
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I found heaps of SHB grubs and pupae in my two coreflute boards. I have gone for an Apithor harbourage. My hives sit on a sealed board platform (sealed with varnish). I take out the coreflute board and put one harbourage in the bottom and one just under the roof (on the flat wooden screen). I tried one harbourage in the bottom of my first hive and pulled it apart (the harbourage) when it hit three months and it was full of dead beetles and larvae. The harbourages are an Australian invention, named Apithor (www.apithor.com.au, company is Ensystex and no I am not associated with them in any way other than being a customer) and they use a low vapour pressure insecticide that is bee safe (also bees canāt get into the harbourage no matter how small they are).
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No doubt Apithor works. I keep a couple on hand in case my colonies arenāt coping. I try not to use them. Pulling them apart lets you see how well they work but although the poison has a low vapour pressure, you wouldnāt want to touch it. There are instructions on the webside about safe disposal I believe.
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HI there - does anyone else have the odd Bees coming and going in that core flute slot? Iām new (well about to have my first anniversary of receiving Flow Hive - have not harvested honey yet - although the super is on and the bees are hard at work). In the last few weeks when Iāve gone to the back of the hive weāve noticed 1 or 2 bees every times entering that entrance. The core flute was never quite right on my Flow Hive - didnāt fit perfectly and was on a permanent angle from the top slot to the bottom. (it was too small out of the box). Now itās well and truely stuck as well. Iām more concerned about bees hanging out at that entrance! . Will try the metal ruler trick - but am thinking there may be a hole in there? Has anyone else had this - is it normal?
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Hi Katie, if your core flute board isnāt the right size, you could cut a board from some thin ply wood. I did that so I have spares. They work just as well, if not better.
Itās summer here in Melbourne now, so I have my board in the bottom slot. I closed off that entrance by sticking on a piece of fly wire with packing tape around the edges. Bees canāt get in but the ventilation effect is still happening. Mind you, now Iām wondering if itās better to leave it open, so bees can go in there and clean up all the crap that falls through the mesh.
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Quite a few people have had distorted mesh in the screened bottom board, resulting in gaps big enough to let bees through. If you didnāt notice and fix it before you set up the hive, that could be the problem.
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Thanks for the time about thin ply wood. - Will do that when I work out how to get it out!