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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Small Hive Beetle Trap Bottom Board.
  • Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:31:49 -0400

Randy,

This bottom trap design gets good reviews from researchers. The drawback is that if you believe screened bottoms are good for ventilation, the bottom trap interferes with that. And if you neglect to keep the tray properly oiled, the screened-off area can become a safe breeding ground for a variety of pests. But if properly used, this design apparently does a good job of killing beetles.

I used the Beetle Eater traps for several years. These are the little oil-filled trays that fit snugly between two frames. They were fairly easy to use and they did seem to kill some beetles.

However I don't use any beetle traps now. Not using them doesn't seem to make any difference in how many beetles I have. It is important to note that my hives are in full sun, which is a key recommendation for control of hive beetles. One reason I quit bothering with traps is that at every state bee meeting I've attended for the past several years (spring and summer), researchers have given presentations on how well one trap works compared to another, based on HOW MANY DEAD BEETLES ARE IN THE TRAPS. But adult beetles aren't the problem; beetle larvae are. And a single beetle can make a bunch of larvae. So my question is, how effective are the traps IN PREVENTING BEETLE DAMAGE. In other words, if a better trap kills more adult beetles, does that matter AT ALL in terms of colony health? Or is a healthy hive going to keep beetles under control by itself with no help from us, and a sufficiently weak hive is going to fall prey to beetle larvae regardless of how many adults are killed? I've asked our State Inspectors this question and they've agreed that this question is the important one, and it hasn't been answered. Note that if you are doing bee breeding and have to work with tiny breeding nucs, beetles can be a incredibly big problem so your dynamics, methods and conclusions may be different.

Of course one valid approach is to do what MAY work (even if it actually doesn't) as long as it doesn't take too much effort or cause any harm. So as long at the bottom trap is easy and cheap to use then go for it. That's the argument I use for screened bottom boards --- the science is not overwhelming convincing that they make any difference at all, but I don't think they do harm and they are no more difficult to use than regular bottom boards. So since the theory makes sense, even though not supported by rigorous evidence, I use them.

Let us know how effective the bottom trap seems to be and how easy it is to actually use.

Randall Austin

On 9/16/2011 6:07 PM, birdcr AT concentric.net wrote:
  	Folks,

Every day for weeks I have been killing beetles crawling around 
in
the empty top feeder at my hive. I heard about these bottom board
beetle traps at the last meeting and thought I'd give it a try.
See http://www.greenbeehives.com/abgrbe.html It came via UPS
yesterday and I'll paint it when I get the chance and install it
on my next inspection early next week or Sunday if the weather
permits. Any one have any tips or suggestions on this trap? Funny
thing is I stopped at Busy Bee recently and they had this trap on
the computer screen( I had looked at the page the night before)
and were thinking of building some, they do have instructions on 
a
DIY trap on the web site.

Here is how the beetle trap works, you pour in about 1/4 inch of
cooking oil, this is under the hive. When the bees push around 
the
beetles they fall in and drown, any other pests drown as well. It
has #6 screen so the bees can not get in. You empty it from the
back of the hive.

The bees here have been none stop in bringing pollen for the past
two weeks. I did a walk about to the neighbors three hives and
found one hive dead and full of moths. On my walk about I noticed
the bush clover (Lespedeza spp) is attracting bees big time. This
lespedeza is the white to pink one covered in flowers all up the
stems, there is hundreds of acres of it growing around here. 
While
in Durham last Sunday at the Farmers Market garden I saw hundreds
of bees on Narrow-leaved Sneezeweed, pretty impressive for
downtown.

Last Saturday we attempted to extract a hive in a porch last 
week.
The hive was inside a 2ft x 2ft brick column so no rescue was 
done
as access was impossible. So I now have a bee vac and a new hive
ready for bees. I have room for only one more hive here. I have
permission to install future hives down the hill from here at a
farm/plant nursery which I'm pretty excited about.

Cheers,
Randy Emmitt
www.rlephoto.blogspot.com



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