Need a presentaion on Small hive beetle

[MuswellMetro]

I think as punishment for wanting to stand down from our BKA committee i have been asked to prepare a talk on "living with the Small Hive Beetle" for next spring

So i have pulled down a lot of info from the web and pasted it into a power point presentation

i have attached a pdf of the slides ( it rough yet, so spelling and syntax will be improved) BUT i need constructive or even destructive criticism on its content

what should i include ,what have i missed , what have i included that is irrelevant, what needs expanding?

ok, sitting back now, tin hat on and digging the hole deeper to miss the brick bats

 

[masterBK]

Presentation needs structure eg introduction, list of subtopics before going through each subtopic with final summary stressing main points.

You mentioned using glacial acetic to sterilise combs but 80% is effective & slightly safer (and cheaper) for the beekeeper to use .
Maybe add videoclip of beetles and larvae moving around unchallenged by bees. Also information on how to recognise the beetle and its larvae including how to distinguish beetle larvae from wax moth larvae

 

[Hivemaker.]

"living with the Small Hive Beetle"

what have i missed

You have never had to live with SHB, have you? They would be better off if possible getting someone to do the presentation who has experience of beekeeping successfully with SHB , rather than somone just talking about what they have read about it on the internet etc, which if interested, they could do themselves.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Mike Palmer is a forum member and i am sure he would know quite a bit about Hive beetles, plus he is coming over to the UK soon !maybe he could help !

 

[Michael Palmer]

My experiences with SHB are minimal. I've seen them in my hives, and had a few combs slimed in the hot room. Not really an issue here where I have a cold winter and heavy clay soils that freeze in the winter. The beetles winter poorly and are gone by spring. Of course, they show up again if a nearby beekeeper buys in package bees and/or nucs from the south where SHB are endemic.

 

[itma]

… The beetles winter poorly and are gone by spring. Of course, they show up again if a nearby beekeeper buys in package bees and/or nucs from the south where SHB are endemic.

So, Michael, you are saying that they are re-introduced with BEES rather than with vegetables?

Wow - you are challenging the orthodoxy of the British Beekeepers' Association! How dare you!

 

[MuswellMetro]

You have never had to live with SHB, have you? They would be better off if possible getting someone to do the presentation who has experience of beekeeping successfully with SHB , rather than somone just talking about what they have read about it on the internet etc, which if interested, they could do themselves.

if our limited education budget would stand travel expenses then i would book someone but expenses of 2000 miles at 40p per mile, is more than our £200 speaker budget

i have however contacted a relative in California who keeps bees and has lived with SHB who then gave me the leads on info but from Michael Palmer's comments then the level of SHB infestation is more temperature dependant than i thought

 

[Michael Palmer]

So, Michael, you are saying that they are re-introduced with BEES rather than with vegetables?

Funny story....

Last summer (2013) I opened a colony in the Ferland yard. Removed the roof, and on the crown board were a dozen SHB. Removed the crown board and another dozen scrambled off the top bars and disappeared. Huh. Hadn't seen any SHB in a few years. Thinking...Someone has moved bees in near me

I know a nuc seller who is flooding my area with nucs sold to beginners. He said he didn't sell any nearby to that apiary...why do I not believe that?

At the fair in September, one of my farmers stops by the bee booth our club runs and we get talking. Seems his companion has bees near that apiary of mine. Says she bought them from that very nuc seller...nucs that come from the state of Georgia and are full of SHB. how did I know?

No beetles observed this summer (2014).

 

[itma]

... but from Michael Palmer's comments then the level of SHB infestation is more temperature dependant than i thought

I'm sure there is nowhere in the UK that gets winters anywhere near as cold as Michael's (previous discussion on this forum).


/// ADDED - found it!

… We can have our first snow by early November, but not always. It usually melts away if we have an early storm. By the end of November we're below 32˚F, with an occasional period above freezing. Our real snow comes in December, and remains on the ground until early April, unless we have an early spring. Our ground is frozen here from December until April...water lines are placed 4' below the surface to prevent rupturing by freezing. We usually have winter temperatures that will reach -0˚F for a period of time with lows of -10˚F to -20˚F some nights.

Still, your temperatures aren't anywhere nearly as high as places like our southeast states like the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida...where SHB can slime a colony very quickly.

Obviously much colder than the UK. Even though, I wonder just how much of a problem SHB will be for you. Keep your colonies strong. Be careful with small mating nucs...keep them well populated. Never harvest your honey and leave it in a hot room for an extended period of time. My buddy in the state of Georgia has 3 days to extract hot room honey before the beetles ruin it.

SHB's aren't varroa mites.

He's talking about the temperature getting down to about MINUS 29C "some nights" … which is colder than the UK's lowest ever recorded … !

 

[MuswellMetro]

I'm sure there is nowhere in the UK that gets winters anywhere near as cold as Michael's (previous discussion on this forum).


/// ADDED - found it!

He's talking about the temperature getting down to about MINUS 29C "some nights" … which is colder than the UK's lowest ever recorded … !

i was not implying in the uk we would loose SHB to cold in winter, but anyway the SE and london are warm enough for most pests to thrive,