Roaches in Flow Hive Super - HELP

Hi there,
I live in Darwin Northern Territory. I have had a flow hive set up for 18 months now but still yet to see or harvest honey.
I have small german roaches in my flow hive. We have added the flow super on and there is a lot of roach poo (looks like coffee grounds) in the round tube flow part where the honey flows out from on the super.
he bees are moving in the super more and more each week, although they are not putting any honey in yet.
The bees have been taking interest in the super for a quite long time (3 months) but not putting honey in.
I’m being patient as we have 2 distinct seasons (wet season and dry season) and know that the wet season can be a hard time. But now it is the dry they are coming back loaded with pollen all the time.
If the bees do start adding honey to the flow hive I want to be able to harvest it without it having roach poo all through it.
Really wanting some answers to the following questions?

  1. Could the small roaches be affecting the bees putting honey in the super?
  2. How do I get this roach poo out without distressing the bees?
  3. Could I smoke the hive then vacuum the roach poo out?
    Any help at all would be greatly appreciated

Hi Fiona,
I don’t think the roaches will be a problem once the bees move up to your super, in the meantime you can clean the channel using the following method, that should help.

It might be worth trying cockroach baits that are inside a plastic ‘envelope’ with slots in it so the buggers can get at the bait and die.
Thinking your biggest issue would be the cockies and cane toads, there is an entrance guard that will stop them entering the hive.
@Rodderick Rodderick has given you good advise about cleaning up the crap…
Welcome to the forum…

If you put the Flow harvesting tube into the round hole in the frame, you can rinse the channel out with some tepid water. Several people have done this to remove fermenting honey, without worrying their bees.

Hi Rod
Thanks for your reply. Yes great idea I hadn’t thought of using the flow key.

The bees don’t seem to be bothered by the roaches, and the roaches just seem to like being in the cracks and crevices and pooping in the flow tube.

Thanks for your help

Hi Peter,
Thanks for your reply. I wondered if it would be ok to put the plastic roach baits under the roof, but I was concerned that the splits in the plastic of the baits could be big enough for bees to crawl into. The roaches are small little German roaches, most of them 5-10mm long.

Yes cane toads are a big threat so the hive is on a steel stand 1.5 metres off the ground with a roof over top for coolness and shade and protection from monsoon downpours.

We are on a 5 acre block of top end bush and green ants are the biggest concern, they can wipe out a whole hive in a couple of days. We put grease around the stands legs regularly to stop the ants. So far so good. Just need some honey :slight_smile:

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Great advice thanks so much Dawn :slight_smile:

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Great advice thanks Rod :slight_smile:

The slots should be too small for a bee to get into the bait. I had forgotten about the green ants of the territory, There is lots of ways to get about that problem on the forum but grease certainly works.
I guess the dry season is the best up there for honey flow? Bees would find it hard swimming through a tropical down pour.:grinning:

Ok thanks Peter.
Yes the dry season is definitely the best time for honey flow. The bees are super busy at the moment, all the natives are flowering.
Haha yes they don’t appreciate the monsoon times, they tend to stay put in there lovely cosy home and we have to feed them in the wet, there’s just not enough food around for them.
Hopefully after this dry season I’ll be able to leave enough honey in the hive to see them through the next wet season.