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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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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Thomas Grizzle <griz AT mindspring.com>
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Cut Comb Foundation and Small Hive Beetle Questions
  • Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2012 20:36:18 -0400

Hey Tom,

If the foundation wasn't drawn out into comb yet, my guess is that it just drooped in the heat. Since the honey flow is over, the bees aren't going to be working in the super so they won't be doing any temperature management in it.

In my experience, a dozen small hive beetles isn't a worrisome amount if they are on the inner cover or empty super. It isn't desirable but it doesn't mean your hive is ready to collapse. The problem with SHB isn't the adults; it is the larvae. The solution to SHB is having a strong hive that can keep the eggs and larvae in check. As long as you don't actually see larvae, you aren't in imminent peril. A handful of SHB adults can spawn enough larvae to ruin a weak hive, and a strong hive may be able to easily control a fairly large number of SHB adults. Keep your hive in the sun, keep the amount of space the bees have to manage proportionate to the number of bees (remove extra supers so all comb is covered by bees), and keep your hive healthy and strong. Do these things and you shouldn't have a problem with SHB, at least not in our area.

Randall Austin

On 6/26/2012 7:16 PM, Thomas Grizzle wrote:

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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