About 2 months ago I purchased a hive from a beekeeper. Transferred 6 brood frames and two frames with foundation to my flow hive 2. A month ago I added the flow hive super. I noticed SHB in the tray so I added some oil. Every week since then I cleaned the oil and removed about 20 to 30 SHB. Observing the bees today I noticed SHB are flying in the entrance. I have reduced the entrance to about 3cm. (1 1/4 inch). The bees are now attacking the SHB which is good. I have seen on YouTube bee keepers using strips of aluminium coated with “Never Wet” to completely guard against the SHB. Should I continue with what I am doing. Is there anything else I can do. Or should I try the strips. Thanks everyone.
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I use beetle blaster traps between the frames of the top brood box. One or two traps is usually enough. The other really important thing is to be careful not to squish bees, as they are food for SHB larvae when dead. Then when inspecting, kill as many adult SHB as possible - I just squish with a hive tool. I check my traps about every 2 weeks and empty/replace as needed.
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When you say “the bees are now attacking the SHB which is good”. The bees will Always attack the beetles & chase them incessantly until they find somewhere to hide. I don’t use any traps on the Sunshine Coast whatsoever. I strongly agree with @Dawn_SD about not leaving dead bees in the hive. Mainly dead bees that the workers can’t remove easily. This will slow down inspections, however use a little smoke before replacing frames so as to not squash bees. As well as remove any burr comb off frames to eliminate the risk of squashing & or trapping any bees while returning the frames.
Also keep your brood frames nice & straight by removing any protruding honey on the comb. The flat of your hive tool does a good job of doing that. The minor honey spill will be quickly cleaned up.
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You can see a few ideas and traps by doing a search in the top right hand corner of the page, e.g.