Damn Small Hive Beatles are a pain
While I Have not yet seen any damage inside the hives, I certainly am seeing plenty of beatles in all but the big hive. The big hive has some mean bees at times, so my guess is that they also go after the beatles like they go after me :-)
I have done a permethrin soil drench and we have not had much rain, so it should work, will do another drench this coming weekend
I pulled another two full boxes of honey off the big hive this weekend. That makes it 4 supers of honey his season, wow , these girls know how to work. I almost forgive them for tagging me each time I work the hive - almost !!
I continue to learn each time I work the hives, the Ballinger swarm bees are very calm, never seem to worry about me working them, but are also slow to build up, while it was a tiny swarm we caught, they are only just filling up the last of about 18 frames now, still some open wax foundation, but brood pattern is good, and stores look fine, I will continue to feed once a week.
The Waynes bees are awesome, good brood, good build up and great stores. One of the two Hives is slightly busier than the other and filled their first super about 2 weeks before the other. Feeding them both to help draw out the foundation in the supers.
I am hoping all three smaller hives will fill at least one more super during the late summer flow
Back to the beatles, i found a nice site that detailed a beatle trap using a CD jewel case, I made 8 of these, and concocted a bait,using pollen patty , honey, and Boric acid (roach bait)
After 3 days I checked the traps and found a few dead beatles, but suspect that i need more honey to get them in...... Will check them this weekend and then adjust the bait again. I did look for Roach Jell but cannot find it locally, but I did find some Ant jell using Boron , so might try that now
