Small Hive Beetle

Charleston, South Carolina beekeeper Tim Liptak shares thoughts and ideas on small hive beetle control. Includes small hive beetle traps, baits, control with Swiffer sheets and much more.

[taddrienstra]

I have done removals on floor 11 of a high rise building. SHB were there, no prob going up 100 feet straight up.

[Vinny-fz]

During the day I learn from you bob, thank you. Sometimes at night i put you on to help me sleep, you have such a calm soothing voice.

[philliphaines]

Thank you bob for being a conduit of ideas and knowledge to the beekeeping industry

[charlesoneill]

Great video. Especially the part where he said " bees chasing beetles are not doing their job" cleaning, guarding, getting pollen and necter. So be proactive, early.

[mikechilders]

Bob your videos are great tools for all beekeepers. I live in Bloomington Indiana, when our hives have lime dust or what we call fill dust under the stands our hive beetles are close to none. Plus the way we treat for mites also kills them, with heat treatment.

[jeremyhuggins]

Great video and information, Bob. Thanks for having Tim share these tips. I place a piece of galvanized metal roofing/siding in front of the hives. It gets pretty hot in the sun, and the larvae can't get off of it fast enough to survive. (Unless it's a cloudy day).

[wrfarms]

Smart idea! Thanks for posting Bob. Thank you Tim for sharing your ideas and experience! 👍

[jeanie]

Great video. This is a lot of good information. As a Master Beekeeper I keep trying different ways to control SHB, I found that I have been able to greatly reduce shb problems by using Grub-X in my bee yards. I sprinkle it under the hives and about 10 feet around them. Follow the instructions on the bag. I have been doing this for two years now and I see very few hive beetles now. I have used the swiffer sheets and they worked well. You still have to take care of week colonies since SHB is a secondary pest. Use all the tools you have. Traps, swiffer sheets, nematodes, etc. See what works best in your area.

[wayne]

I live in Australia with very similar conditions to Florida. My wining recipe for combatting SHB;
- Raise hives to at least a 1 1/2f above the ground.

- My first red hot top is to use corrugated iron roof sheeting on the ground with hive stands on top as this heats up like a hot plate during the day and all grubs that leave the hive fall onto the sheeting and cook. Ants clean up the mess. It touches on the understanding of the biology and life cycle of SHB to short circuit that part of the cycle by killing larva.
- use vented bottom boards to allow air flow and grubs to fall straight out onto the iron sheeting.

- reduce entrances to at least a third of total opening (easier for bees to guard).

- understand that in about 20 days from heavy rain in a hot climate, beetles will be pupating from the ground. So complete final checks well before this date.
- place hives to receive morning to midday sun to heat the hive. I think the heat may also be a trigger for them to leave and find ground to start pupating except they find a hot roof sheet.
- Protect hives from late afternoon sun.
- I use Caucasian bees who are especially good at propolising everything and are especially quick at corralling SHB into their own pre-made gummed up traps against the interior walls of the hives.

- limit inspections (removing frames from the brood box) as this breaks their traps and releases the beetle back into the colony.

- I only I use ‘CHUX’ branded cloths which are similar to your ‘swifer’ cloths but come on a large roll. I use this method on small or weak hives that may need a little more help. They are placed on the corners of the top box but they will catch the feet of some bees also. Replace regularly.

- and my chickens have free range to eat anything around the hives. 😂

I hope some of this may help someone.

Good luck from an Australian Bee keeper

[jimstrohm]

Great video, wonderful explanation. I saw something similar in a top-bar hive many years ago. Didn't seem to help because the hive was located poorly (heavy shaded area). Beetles flourished.

[altaylor]

Good discussion. Those little boogers are really aggravating. A strong colony with little unattended comb in direct sun is a good start. Thanks for sharing.

[barkersbees]

I don’t have small hive Beatles in northern Utah thankfully but still love watching! Good information!

[thehappycamper]

This is a very good idea, hope to hear how it turns out. Our chickens free range in the bee yard which has kept the hive beetle population to a minimum. I still find between 5 - 10 beetles under the lid with bees corralling them, the good news is that we have not lost any hives to the beetles in three years. Thanks for another great video.

[BobBeebe]

Great video Bob. Great job Tim. Bees are still going strong. Have them on doubles with super on each. Plan on splitting early March.

[eljefe]

Good info! We completely eliminated an infestation at one of our apiaries this year by using grub control granules beneath and up to a 30' circumference from the hives. Our hives are all elevated from the ground by either 1' or 3' depending on the benches used. Breaking the reproductive cycle in such a drastic manner makes sense. After we started doing this we saw others posting research showing similar results. Yes, this is only another part of a total IPM program, but it is an important one. We have seen ZERO effect on the bees from the grub control. We also employ swiffer sheets, beetle blasters filled 1/3 with DE instead of oil, West screened bottom boards again using DE mixed with agricultural lime instead of messy oils. We have one apiary that just needs to be relocated due to too much shade and leaf litter which has not given the same result using grub control. We have one hive in a remote location that is unique to our operation in that it sits very close to the ground, uses a solid bottom board year round, yet is extremely strong enabling them to control SHB to about 20 adults observed at each inspection. This site is also a bit too shady, but there's not anything more open on that property. We hesitate to do anything more to it because of its strength and copious amounts of top quality, 100% wildflower honey.

[charliekelly]

Thanks for spending time on SHB in the video - you may not fight them in the mountains, but down in the 'flat lands' they truly are a pest. Last year I lost the battle with several hives. This year I put down pool salt around the hives and it seems to have cut down the populations significantly. I still have them, but nothing like previous years.

[rodkirt]

Thanks for the advice . I definitely will be installing these “ drop in “ traps . I have some 8 ounce plastic jars with lids that I will be using . 👍😊

[daveshearn]

I treated around my hive stands with GrubEx this year. The larvae don’t know it is there and won’t crawl away to avoid it. I think it has worked well. My biggest hive beetle problem is bees drowning in the frame feeders and hive beetle larvae showing up in the bee syrup soup. I think that I have that figured out now. I was using Motherlode feeders with the tops and integrated ladders. I got rid of those and accordion folded 1/8th hardware mesh. Making a ladder for the whole length of the feeder. No dead bees now. I think the narrow ladder of the feeder top caused the bees to trample each other into the syrup and drown. Wider access means less trampling and drowning.

[russellaymond]

Good morning .Thank you for the information, Bob. I find them this year a real problem in weaker hives.

[adamdavis]

I've been using peanut oil as the protein smell also acts as an attractant