Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
after it rains. If you routinely move colonies it doesn't do much good either. Trapping
seems to be the best method of dealing with beetles once you have them in a colony.
Small Hive Beetles and Honey Supers
Moving small hive beetles into a honey house after harvesting honey supers can be a
disaster if left to their own devices for a few days. Without interference from bees any
beetle larvae in the supers can and will run amok in the supers, ruining all of the honey
either by tunneling through it, or having the slime run down and over frames they didn't
touch. You have a short window of time between moving bees into a honey house situ-
ation (it may be your garage or basement or kitchen) and extracting before they begin
to do significant damage. If you harvest but must store for a few days and you know or
suspect beetle larvae are in the supers, run a dehumidifier as much as possible. This will
help dry any uncapped honey you inadvertently harvested, and the drier air dehydrates
many of the beetle eggs and tiny larvae that may be present.
This may not be feasible, so the best bet is to always extract your honey just as soon
as you can after harvesting. Any adults or larvae will be removed from the finished
honey in the process and if any larvae remain in the honey supers, the bees will clean
them out when you put your supers back on the hive.
Small hive beetles are no longer the scourge they were initially, but you do need to
pay attention to them if you live in the warmer areas of the United States and Australia,
if you run small or weak colonies, and when harvesting.
Animal Pests
If your colony is raised off the ground a couple of feet, skunks and opossums are seldom
a problem, but continue to check for them. Skunk visits are noted by torn-up sod or
mulch directly in front of the hive, and muddy paw prints or scratches on the land-
ing board. A skunk will, if it is reachable, scratch at the hive entrance at night. Guards
who investigate are grabbed and eaten. Other guards will fly and sting the intruder, but
skunks are nearly immune to stings on their paws, face, and even inside the mouth. This
can last for some time during a night, and for many nights in a row. A mother skunk will
bring her kits and show them how to harvest this sweet, high-protein snack. A colony
that's attacked will become very defensive because of the constant disruption and con-
tinuous exposure to alarm pheromone, especially the day following the attack. Opos-
sums are generally opportunists and grab what they can without the scratching.
Raccoons may also investigate your colony. They are usually attracted to a hive be-
cause of wax or propolis carelessly discarded in the vicinity of the hive. Here's a word
to the wise: Raccoons don't attack the front door. They will, if determined, remove the
cover and inner cover (still loose from your recent inspection) and pull out a frame.
They'll drop it to the ground, and then drag it away several feet. Guard bees or any bees
