I’ve been killing beetles 1-2 a day since I got a swarm. Yesterday I pulled the cor-flute bottem. which I had added a piece of carpet tile. there was a 80 - 100 maggots. They don’t lst long in the sun I noticed. I split the Hive and went for a deep dive into the brood box. My super has no honey as yet. The Brood is chokers. After Pulling frames I did not see any beetle. I saw lot’s of awesomeness and breaking some burr comb off the honey is fantastic. The hive smells so good no wonder the beetles come in. So I’m assuming the bees are keeping them under control. This is my first and only hive I can’t imagine what it would be like on a commercial to keep these buggers under control.
Today I killed nearly 20 beetles on the mat. Is this too many in one day? The bees are breeding like mad and honey flow is awesome. I just hate these beetles.
.
Yep, that’s a lot beetles so they must be breeding in there to have so many beetle larva, keep trapping and killing beetles everyday, stop the larva from getting into the soil and break the breeding cycle. You could also look at reducing the entrance width to give the bees a smaller area to protect, if you have a ventilated bottom then reducing the entrance should be fine. Do you have any other traps for beetle inside the hive?
I was using traps in the super. I had no results, so I’ll put them in the brood now. I put fly screen over the rear entrance. I’ll try reducing the front. They are a happy hive and building well. It’s disappointing seeing these beetles. I’ve got the hive on concrete so little chance of maggots growing to beetles. But they still come. maybe my bees are just so well.
I’m afraid that will not stop them.
The Larvae have been known to travel some distance to get to ground. A lab doing experiments in the US can’t remember where, were found larvae travelling down the building steps and to the outside just to pupate.
They are pretty tenacious little blighter’s, so we need to be one step ahead.
There is an entrance trap I saw some where, someone may have piccy and instructions, stops them going to ground as well as in hive trap near brood.
Like Varroa you need and integrated approach. Squash, Kill, Annoy, Trap (SKAT) - sorry I just made that up but that is pretty much the IPM (integrated Pest Management) style.
The use of DE (diatomaceous earth) annoys them, providing dark places for them to hide so they can be squished, I believe CD cases are useful as well as the Corflute (Correx, Coroplast), traps with vinegar and oil to drown.
Using overall IPM is the only way to stay on top if they are becoming a nuisance.
you could put a tray of water underneath the entrance of the hive to catch the larva as they exit. But they can crawl for a long to find soil to pupate in.
OK just for fun the day after I posted originally I started to find bees starting to gather under the hive and when I pulled the cor-flute that I have a beetle mat from the rear entrance I found some angry bees. Only the bees at the back and under the hive are angry. Flow is still coming in. On a positive note not a beetle since this started. Then the hive was amassed by bees for two days running. My Brood box is full and while there is lots of activity in the flow supers there is no comb and no honey. Is it possible I’m seeming robber bees now? I reduced the entrance today to 3 inches with fly screen. Tonight I have a small beard out the front. I have seen this in the past. They are all passive and all seems good except everything I read one day is contradicted the next.
Ha! That is the nature of beekeeping! 
Hi Andrew, probably no, but difficult to tell from here. If being robbed there will be a lot of frantic activity at the entrance. However if you are seeing bees flying out and flying straight in, chances are you are fine. It takes a while for the bees to start putting nectar into the Flow super, they will fill the brood box first… including full frames of honey, in spring/summer every couple of months I remove the honey only frames from the brood to another super and replace with new frame after moving brood frames to the outside. The idea is to give the queen more room to lay and build up those bee numbers. This is fine to do in my climate (Australia). So what I am trying to say is that the nectar coming in could be being stored in the brood box. Have a look and let us know.
Bearding is a good sign, especially in summer. One of my hives is bearding day and night and is producing a full box of honey every 3 weeks.
Hi everyone,
Can anyone advise me if you can use the Apithor Hive Beetle Harborage device in the Flow Hive. I want to be on top of SHB from the beginning and not wait for it to become a problem.
I have one on the corflute board under the screen bottom. Haven’t seen any SHB in the super or brood box since I established the hive back in December.
I have found one dead SHB about 3 weeks ago,
I do have a gecko living on the corflute board as well, which is probably eating any SHB that fall through the screen.
Just an update, All is looking really good. I have a carpet on the cor-flute bottom board to help trap beetles.
What I have noticed is there are now guard bees down there. I thought they were robbers and now I realise they are cleaning and guarding the bottom. It was fun to watch a bee attacking a beetle till I did the deed.
Finally I’m seeing lots of activity in the super. So I’m thinking next spring before I tap anything.
A lot happens in seven days. The bees are going great now and the super is being capped on 30% of the middle frames and all other frames are being filled. even the frame next to the viewing window is filling. It looks like the bottom guards are doing a great job with the beetle except I made one cranky she chased me for a distance and stung my nose. I’m still finding a beetle every now and then but the hive seems really happy.
The only issue I see is that you will need to put the apithor on your screened bottom, it may be effective there but I doubt it as it was designed to sit on a solid bottom board where the bees would harass the beetles into the trap. Silver Bullets in your brood and Honey boxes, and a sticky board or diathomaceous earth under your screen would be the best method of control.
Good to hear this hasn’t deterred you Harry…
just made me more careful I was getting to cocky I guess. They where always so well behaved. I arrived home after a week away last night. I noticed there was no longer any honey at the ear inspection window.
So trying to think this logically I was wondering if the bees where using that area as an open pantry and had simply moved or eaten the stores. Today I got the smoker out and suited up. There was no need for the suit.
I pulled all the flow frames. They are all %30 plus full with one frame being capped.So all looking good for now and beetles seem to be under control.
Diatomaceous earth, so help me understand, DE is not recommended? and is there a type of DE to use? Can I use the stuff from my Pool, ie recycle?
@Martydallas Marty I believe there is a food Grade DE - but it is fine with bees - that’s the annoy bit - it annoys SHB
Sorry have no idea - is it DE?
my pool used a DE (Diatomaceous earth) Residential Pool Supplies and Pool Solutions | Pentair
filter system. when backwashing it, I collected and put it in the recycling bin
http://www.absorbentproductsltd.com/food-grade-diatomaceous-earth-vs-pool-grade.html
Just found this
Technosetbee http://www.beequip.nz/
has anyone got any experence with this stuff. I saw it saturday at the Texas bee clinic
along with all the other stuff it does, it was talked about light that enters the hive, it would help keep Hive Beetles out, becouse they don’t like light