I’ve been hearing a lot of SHB myths lately. The most common is “SHB killed my hive”...no they didn’t...well...most likely they didn’t. Usually SHB show up after there has been another problem. It would be EXTREMELY RARE to have SHB take over a healthy hive. Usually there are other issues like mites, space issues, even the occasional pesticide getting into a hive. Here are a few more myths:
“Small hive beetles won’t be in your honey frames, only in your pollen frames”...wrong!
“To have small hive beetle infestation’s, you must have a high mite count”...wrong!
The Mite count on this little 8 frame garden hive is 4 (Apivar working and still working another 14 days) and yet SHB are going crazy!
Despite the low mite count (and yes, with Apivar treatment continuing, I opted for a Thermal treatment to reduce the SHB and improve the overall health of the colony.
This is what it looks like after the initial warm up period with the thermal treatment in progress:
PS this is one of our rental hives. Yes, we do that! Contact BeeResQ.com for more information. :-)
Comments