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ocba - Re: [ocba] Cut Comb Foundation and Small Hive Beetle Questions

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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: annallys Goodwin-Landher <annallys AT hotmail.com>
  • To: Thomas Grizzle <griz AT mindspring.com>, OCBA <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Cut Comb Foundation and Small Hive Beetle Questions
  • Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:35:10 -0400

Thomas,

If the hives sits in shade a good bit of the day it may be useful to purchase a freeman hive beetle trap and install it in place of the the screened bottom board.  http://www.freemanbeetletrap.com/  There are also plans to build this yourself.

Was the cut comb foundation slimy?  If yes, then there are hive beetle larva and there's a problem.  If not, be sure there's not a lot of empty space for the bees to patrol (they keep the beetles on the run so no eggs are laid).  Usually bees will chase the beetles around in the lid, at the bottom around the entrance or screened board, or in a top feeder - if it's a split feeder with an opening in the center- if you use a screened feeder where the bees cannot get to where the syrup's stored then you have a place where hive beetles can lay eggs. 

It's also possible that the cut comb foundation if installed when the weather's cold may drop out of the frame when the weather heats up and the wax gets soft.   Just means the wood strip holding the wax wasn't put back on tight against the foundation.

Hope this helps.


Annallys Goodwin-Landher
919 933-9109
annallys AT hotmail.com

Four years after the bees are gone, humanity is gone.

Albert Einstein




From: griz AT mindspring.com
To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:16:48 -0400
Subject: [ocba] Cut Comb Foundation and Small Hive Beetle Questions

Hey y’all,

 

This morning I went into my hive to check on some things and to add a platform under the hive.  My current configuration was two brood chambers and a medium super with cut comb foundation.  When I opened the top, I found the cut comb foundation had all fallen down from their frames.  There were no wires, per design.  Why did it all collapse?

 

I removed the medium super and so now the hive has just two brood chambers.  I took the super away and left it in a place to allow the bees to escape.  Then I went back and took all the frames out.  There I found about a dozen small hive beetles, which I and my daughter took great joy in squishing.  Do I need to be worried about finding that many in the top super?  At least I decreased the population a bit, but how do I know if I have too many? 

 

Thanks!

 

Tom


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