I have just come in from inspecting my flow hive. I am in Lismore, NSW.
I have a strong hive going, with only a brood box and flow hive box. I use hive beetle traps in my hive (not sure what they are called, but they are the aluminium ones with a top that slides off and I put oil in the base).
There are a large number of SHB in my hive, and one thing I noticed is that the beetles are able to ‘hide’ in the empty flow frame cells. The bees know that they are in there but can’t seem to get them out.
The beetle traps that I use work on the theory that the beetles need somewhere to hide, so they go into the trap where the bees can’t get to. They fall in the oil and it is good night. But the thing is, why would they go into the trap to hide when they have all these cells in the flow frames to hide in?
Has anyone else had a similar problem, and if so, what was your solution? Anyone got any other suggestions of beetle traps that the beetles may go into?
I think you are referring to Silver Bullets and they work well. If you are concerned about beetle then inspect regularly (once a week) and kill all the beetles you find. Use tweezers if you have to get them out of the cells. The light from an inspection will force them down and through the screen where you can squash them, a sprinkle of diathomaceous earth on the board below helps. I think you will find a bit of diligence and keeping your bees strong will help a great deal, they only hide in the flow frames and cannot lay their eggs up there.
This is the answer I got from Yari (Flow team/bee keeper):
Hive beetles inside a Flow Frame can’t harm the hive, in essence they are beetle traps too… though they don’t kill the beetles.
So its not an issue, but also doesnt kill the beetles.
As winter sets in the beetles will die off anyway, and as they bees fill the flow Frames, teh beetles will have no cells to hide in, and will use the beetle trap he has eventually.