So I came back today to weed whack under and around my hive and distribute my nematodes, and while I was here it was after a good rain so the hive was really quiet around it so I decided to pull out my coraflute plastic bottom below my screen and I had installed a tablecloth small hive beetle catcher 3 days ago and found 2-3 small hive beetle caught in it and probably two dozen small hive beetle larvae.
My first question is if I were to put a wood entrance reducer in would it make the bees more efficient at guarding against them coming in to begin with to limit the area that they have to guard?
My 2nd question is are the larvae falling out of my frames through the bottom screen and getting trapped in the tablecloth trap or are they climbing up out of the ground and into my hive and then getting stuck?
So far Iāve put two beetle blasters in and did not see any beetles in them 3 days ago after them being in there for a couple daysā¦
Iām tempted to buy a couple of the traps that others have talked about on here that you hang around the hive just recentlyā¦( Or I was thinking about getting some of the beetle barn trap devices that are thin black devices that you put a tablet in of poison)
Iāve also heard that some people have had success with a CD case that is modified to catch the small Hive beetles?
Very likely. They could also be wax moth larvae. Without a close-up photo, it can be hard to tell. Either way, your lower trap is doing a good job.
No, the larvae donāt climb back up from the ground. When they go to ground, it is because they are ready to pupate. The only way they would come back is as adults, flying in.
That is a good thing. Mine usually need replacing after a month or more. Often less than 10 beetles per trap, even after that time. Keep in mind that when I first discovered them, there were more than 30 in my hive lid, and my area was not high risk for SHB.
That puts synthetic chemical poisons into the hive. May not be a health risk, but certainly not organic. The choice is yours.
I agree with @Dawn_SD in that what you are seeing is much more likely wax moth larvae.
A CD cassette doesnāt need any mods to using it as a SHB trap.
This is maybe what you are asking about using to help with SHB, I have them set up on the perimeter of my apiary and and more than happy with the number of SHB dead in them and less SHB making it into the beetle blaster traps since I started using the āhanging trapsā. If you have SHB as an issue you need to use āall the tricksā to beat the buggers.
I wasnāt sure about the fork, so I copied this video I made a couple of years ago to paste on here.
Obviously the fork is there, so it appears you have SHB larvae.
cheers
PS, Traps are only a false sense of security. Traps might catch 99% of the beetles in the hive. Itās the 1% the traps donāt catch that will do the damage if you have provided ideal conditions for them to lay in, which it appears you inadvertently have going by the presence of SHB larvae.
The beetles may have come with the nuc, however if beetles are in your area, theyāll find your hive regardless. You/we have to be proactive in managing our hives in such a way so as to prevent beetles from laying eggs. I previously told you about a couple of strategies I use. Itāll be worth rereading those posts.
In reply, I was able to photograph a wax moth larvae that was hanging by itās own thread. If you click on the reply, the SHB image will appear, then you can see the clear differences.
You can clearly see the feet in the middle that SHB larvae donāt have. Also there is no 2 rows of tiny hairs along the back of the wax moth larvae. Not the mention the color differences.
Hereās a follow-up to my shb problem earlier in the yearā¦
Opened hive yesterday after installed 2 shb oil trap troughs in top of second hive box( after been there for 30 days only 4 shb trapped in oil and my homemade bottom board picnic table cloth catcher had only 2 shb in it and no larvae!!!)
I also released nema- seeking worms under hive to stop the larvae at its source, so pretty happy with that!
The few that I caught looked very old in bb ptt and oil so I think Iām ok now for that invasive speciesā¦
Iām still treating hive with shb traps and nematodes one or 2 more times.
Now I think itās time for a mite check possiblyā¦
Thanks for your time and help, Matt
Hi Matt, just to put things into perspective. When you say āto stop the larvae at its sourceā, the source of the larvae is actually in the hive. The larvae enters the soil in order to go through metamorphosis. We need to make sure that the beetles donāt have anywhere to lay eggs. The presence of beetles in a hive is not a problem, as long as they donāt get a chance to lay any eggs. A strong worker population will stop them from doing so. We need to make sure we: #1 donāt have any unprotected brood or pollen in the hive. #2 Donāt leave any dead or dying bees trapped between combs. #3 Also minimize honey spills in the hive.
We also need to make sure there is nothing outside of the hive, such as slum gum for example that beetles can multiply in.
I am trying to create that, I see them on my top cover. I thought my hive was strong I added the flow super and now the top cover is where they hang. I did see one larva in some honey I pulled from the med super below the flow and now I am worried. Asking about guardian entrances and if they help.? Cant afford the bottom boards shipping is equal to the product cost.
I inspected one hive today that must have had 500 beetles in it, between the mats & top bars of the honey frames. I killed what I could, took what honey I could, then closed it up, feeling confident that the beetles I didnāt kill wont do any damage. My strategy of keeping the worker population up, while at the same time keeping the drone population down works for me. Thereās a few other tips: #1 avoid leaving squashed bees between combs. #2 avoid honey spills onto the brood & bees. #3 make sure that there is no frames containing brood or pollen in the hive without a good covering of worker bees on them. Thatās basically it.
cheers
I used dichotomous earth in my tray and have about 30 dying beetles in the space of 8 hours, where I had only spotted 1 on a tray inspection the day before. DE dries out there oils and they die.
