Does the bottom tray capture sufficient numbers of beetles to render further control unnecessary? I’ve put oil in the tray and in 24 hours captured 3 beetles. It’s a new hive BTW with a nuc installed a few days ago.
That is my main strategy. If you have strong hives and the oil tray it seems to work in my situation. Don’t know how it would go on the coast though.
Cheers
Rob.
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I don’t think you need any further control. Rather than control the beetle numbers (which is always good), it’s best to get an understanding of how hive beetles operate. If you read everything I said on the recent thread, “New Beekeeper Problems”, you’ll get a better understanding of it.
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Jeff any suggestions on adding an ideal to the Flow Hive 7? For the purpose firstly overwintering. And later, cutting out honeycomb.
Hi Paul, I think it’s a good idea, especially if the Flow frames will be your primary source of extracting honey. Otherwise I’d keep all my frames the same size. That way I’m able to use the frames from the brood box in the honey super & vise versa.
See what locals do. Especially find out what commercial operators do. If locals don’t need an extra super of honey to carry them over winter, you probably don’t either.
You’ll find, as I do that approaching winter, the bees will constrict the brood, while replacing it with honey, which means there might be enough honey in the brood box to keep them going through winter.
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