The small hive beetle

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I have friends who beekeep in California and in Australia and they just get on with it or give up, just as we will here
Depending on what part of Australia your beekeeping friends live, you may invite them to make contact with me. Perhaps I should have said, "wherever your beekeeping friends live ..."
 
That looks well suited to its purpose and cleverly designed.
Just hope we never need it in the UK!
Possibly new rules on bringing bees in packages and queens will prevent SHB reaching our shores via honeybee imports.
Concern need to be directed towards bring SHB in via contaminated soil?
 
Just hope we never need it in the UK!
Possibly new rules on bringing bees in packages and queens will prevent SHB reaching our shores via honeybee imports.
Concern need to be directed towards bring SHB in via contaminated soil?

I think you should, given the direction from our erstwhile colleague above, start a national campaign for banning importation of most fruits as well? Or is you campaign aimed at one Beefarmer in particular?
 
The NBU do take the threat of SHB very seriously. They have designated my site as an Enhanced Sentinel Apiary because it's only a couple of miles from Felixstowe Docks. If any nasty furriners invade, in theory they will invade me first!

So my local bee inspector has provided some SHB traps. There's a Beetle Blaster which is filled with vegetable oil and a bit of cider vinegar then put between two brood frames, and a couple of Thorne's Schaefer traps which are basically a strip of black correx put on the floor.

Every couple of months he inspects my hives for SHB and Tropilaelaps, scrapes all the crud from the varroa trays and sends it off to the NBU lab for analysis. So far nothing worse than varroa and the occasional wax moth larva, but it's good to know that the Powers That Be are watching!
 
I’ve had problems with SHB in the past. In my top bar hive and in a Langstroth hive . When hive strength erodes (swarming) or mites increase it’s difficult for the bees to keep them in check that said I’ve reached out to a man in Australia that’s worked out a way of keeping them from entering the hive by way of a bottom board. His board works great in that you can see the results anytime of day and really in any weather because you don’t need to open the hive. That said I’m a happy beekeeper and I have happy bees as well. Beetles that are in the hive get chased down in the bottom board and any that try to fly in drop right into the base of the bottom board and are over come by DE (food grade not the bad stuff) . I now can keep them in sun or shade too.
 
The NBU do take the threat of SHB very seriously. They have designated my site as an Enhanced Sentinel Apiary because it's only a couple of miles from Felixstowe Docks. If any nasty furriners invade, in theory they will invade me first!

So my local bee inspector has provided some SHB traps. There's a Beetle Blaster which is filled with vegetable oil and a bit of cider vinegar then put between two brood frames, and a couple of Thorne's Schaefer traps which are basically a strip of black correx put on the floor.

Every couple of months he inspects my hives for SHB and Tropilaelaps, scrapes all the crud from the varroa trays and sends it off to the NBU lab for analysis. So far nothing worse than varroa and the occasional wax moth larva, but it's good to know that the Powers That Be are watching!

Have been one for about four years now
 
The NBU do take the threat of SHB very seriously. They have designated my site as an Enhanced Sentinel Apiary because it's only a couple of miles from Felixstowe Docks. If any nasty furriners invade, in theory they will invade me first!

So my local bee inspector has provided some SHB traps. There's a Beetle Blaster which is filled with vegetable oil and a bit of cider vinegar then put between two brood frames, and a couple of Thorne's Schaefer traps which are basically a strip of black correx put on the floor.

Every couple of months he inspects my hives for SHB and Tropilaelaps, scrapes all the crud from the varroa trays and sends it off to the NBU lab for analysis. So far nothing worse than varroa and the occasional wax moth larva, but it's good to know that the Powers That Be are watching!
I am pleased to see your response, that "The NBU do take the threat of SHB very seriously". I would also want to encourage you as you participate in a sentinel hive program.
You mentioned the "Beetle Blaster" trap, which does catch beetles. I would however like to make the observation that the Beetle Blaster, fitted between two frames, can only catch beetles which have made their way to the top of those frames. What is more, that trap can only catch beetles which have actually been crawling on those particular frames. And what about all of the other frames in the hive, which do not have Beetle Blasters on them? In other words, the only beetles which are caught have already been over the honeycomb, and may have already laid eggs before they were caught.
If you refer to my description of the "Better Beetle Trap", you will see that I have found it possible to trap and kill beetles before they ever get near to the honeycomb.
Another very beneficial aspect of this trap is that it is possible in a few moments to check the trap for how many beetles have been caught, without opening the hive, or disturbing the bees in any way. Likewise it is easy to clean the trap, and renew the oil easily, when such an inspection is made.
 
I think you should, given the direction from our erstwhile colleague above, start a national campaign for banning importation of most fruits as well? Or is you campaign aimed at one Beefarmer in particular?

Every person importing bees or plants should be aware of their environmental impact upon our small island should they should care to import ... of any species.

let alone Far Eastern decorative pots... or even ones from Italy... a nasty could be hiding there!
 

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