SHB population

[sawdstmakr]

I went into all of my out door hives on Monday to see which ones need supers or anything else. The first thing I noticed was almost no Small hive Beetles (SHB's). I did trim some branches over the hives last year but they still have some shade. Out of 13 hives I think we killed about 20 beetles, we kept count and noted it on the lids, most any hive had was 6 killed SHB. All of them were in 4 hives. I do use Screened Bottom boards (SBB) with a oil tray and a Screened Top Board (STB) that I have been opening up every day to kill any that are trapped on top of the screen. The SBB's did not have very many SHB's. The numbers that I have been killing has gone way down. I do not use any traps inside the hives, too much trouble and most do not work. My 3 hives that I just started in a separate apiary that has full sun and a cement pad were free of beetles. None on top or inside. Last year and the year before I had lots of SHB in every hive and killed literally thousands in the SBB's. I am hoping that I am reducing the local population. Might just be the increase in the amount of sunlight but I do have 2 new hives that don't get much sun near the other hives and one had none and the other had 6. Hope this info helps someone else that has had severe problems with SHB's. By the way, I do on occasion remove SHB's from my OB hive. They are able to knock them down to the bottom within a day or so and I check the bottom trays every day and if they are in there I kill and remove them. The bees are getting better at handling them because I find dead SHB's in the bottom, not just live ones.
Jim

[Joe D]

That sounds real good, Jim. 



Joe