Installing Green Bee Hives Small Hive Beetle Trap 6.19.14

A few months ago I ordered 2 Small Hive Beetle Traps from Greenbeehives.com.

When they arrived we were already for a 6 wk trip to NY, VT and points in between. I didn’t want to put them on and leave without having time to check them.

We got back last week and I noticed one hive had a lot of beetles ….so we installed one of the traps. The other hive is doing well and didn’t want to break it down right now. We’ll get that one next week.

The landing board box the tray fits in didn’t have it closed off very well so Jim did some modifying.

He added a wider board to the end of the tray so there would be overlapping wood to prevent insects from getting in to an area the bees couldn’t control.

He also cut the “porch” at a slant so rain drops would splash away from the hive instead of inside it.

The screen will let the beetles and larva pass through but not the bees.

The tray is filled with mineral oil. Some use vegetable oil to attract the beetles but I am afraid it will get rancid here in the hot southern weather.

Here is a video of the installation….

In the video you can see me removing 2 inner covers. One is a standard inner cover the other is a frame with window screen. I have screen on the inner cover but had to cut a hole in it to allow the bees to pass through this winter when I was feeding them.

We  killed at least 50 beetles on the inner cover when we first opened the hive to install the trap.  The bees had the beetles trapped between the inner cover and the screen….made killing them fairly easy.

We didn’t finish until late afternoon. Got rained out the first try. Here is what we found the next morning at 9am.

Fri 6.20.14        

We left them until the this morning then strained the oil through a paint filter and this is what we got. Unfortunately there were 3 small Honey Bees in it also. Don’t know why…maybe they were dead before they went in.

Sat   6.21.14

Opened the tray today and only 2 or 3 beetles.

We’ll strain the oil again tomorrow…then we’ll leave it for a week.

Swarms 6.14.14

On May 3 we caught a swarm and put it in the Top Bar Hive. It is still there.

My neighbor has been checking on them for me, so I wasn’t surprised to see they were still here.

This is a peek in the window in the rear. I think there are 8 or 9 drawn comb.

I need to go in and move the divider board to give them more room and remove the empty honey jar I left in there.

We mowed and knocked down the grass around the hives with the weed eater today…then it rained. Tomorrow might be a good day to do it.

I was surprised to see the ones in the squirrel box…

They’ve been there for awhile because there is comb in there. Look close near the bottom of the picture. Also see 2 bees with pollen  coming in.

It will be interesting to see how they manage. I don’t have anymore equipment and don’t need another hive so we’ll let them do their thing in the home they chose.

Looks like the comb goes below the entrance.

It is about 15 ft. off the ground. Guess the squirrels will have to find another spot.