Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[Jasbee]

We very excitedly got our bees this weekend but reality hit straight away with our daughter (4yrs) getting stung on the face that night (she decided to have a look inside the entry to the hive so not the bees fault) and tonight while watching them go to bed we saw a small hive beetle fly straight into the hive. The bees seemed to ignor it.
Any suggestions on what to do or not do for the SHB?
We currently have our nucleus in a 8 deep Langstroth while we build our long/horizontal Langstroth.
Would making the entry smaller help? Or would that make the hive too hot?
Any traps that you'd recommend?
Thanks
Jas

[rmcpb]

I find the beetles come and go but a good strong hive is the best defence. Make sure your hives are in good nick so there are no cracks for the beetle to get into where the bees can't go. They hassle the beetles if they can get at them. Also, don't oversuper your hives as they cannot patrol the empty space as well.

Cheers
Rob.

[JGW07]

I have top bar hives and use bottle traps screwed into the bottom board http://imgur.com/a/3YTzK?
I know others in my area that swear by periscope entrances for keeping out the beetles. I haven't tried it yet, so I can't vouch for it. Good luck!

[Jasbee]

Thankyou both! I hadn't seen the bottle traps before.

[JGW07]

You're welcome. If you go to the Bee Health forum page, I've been doing updates on what I call my Easy Feeder/Pest Control system in case you want to read up on how it's been working for me.

[Jasbee]

Thanks will do.

[Paul Reyes]

If your bee hive is healthy then the bees will fight the beetle, so you don't need to worry much, remember bees are live in the wild so they know how to defend themselves. What you have to concentrate on is managing your hive well.