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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: "Thomas Grizzle" <griz AT mindspring.com>
  • To: <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ocba] SHB Traps
  • Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:07:17 -0400

I accidentally stumbled across a way to trap and kill small hive beetles (SHBs), but I want to check on possible side effects.  I have a Langstroth hive.  If you put on the inner cover upside down, the bees cannot get into the space between the inner cover and the top cover.  But there is enough space for beetles to go there, so naturally, they congregate there.  It is a simple matter of raising the top cover and quickly squishing all the beetles there.  It does not appear to disturb the hive much because only the top cover comes off for about 30 seconds.  Besides creating a space for beetles to hide, are there any other negative consequences to reversing the inner cover like this?  I am killing about 30 beetles a day checking once first thing in the morning.

 

I used Beetle Jail for a while, but they created hiding places (in plain view) for beetles if you had all 10 frames in place.  I always mounted the Jails on an outermost frame.  In my opinion, you have to remove a frame (going to 9) or there is a narrow space created between the outer body of the hive and the side of the trap hanging on the outermost frame where SHBs can fit but bees cannot.  I guess you could put the Beetle Jail on an internal frame.  Does anyone do this?

 

Thanks.

Tom



  • [ocba] SHB Traps, Thomas Grizzle, 10/17/2012

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