Yet More Beetles!

Yesterday (Friday) I checked the beetle traps I added on Wednesday.  I wasn't sure what I'd find, or how good I'd find the performance of the "Beetle Blasters" had been.  When I looked in the Parent Hive I found that some more beetles had been caught in the "Beetle Blasters", but that many, many more had succumbed to the West Beetle Trap at the bottom of the hive. So I have good reports on the performance of both traps! The bees certainly seem happier now that there are fewer beetles in the hive, but it's too early to say that they are on top of things and will recover.  There are still a large number of beetles in the hive and I will persist with the trapping for a while longer! I didn't trap many beetles in the Daughter Hive but I did get some. 

My main concern is with the design of the screened bottom board that I've been using.  I have been using the type of screen that sits on top of the base board and which also allows a sticky board to be slid between the two sections.  I removed this bottom board when I installed the West Trap and when I took this apart for cleaning I found a very large number of beetles and their larvae hiding under this screen.  YUK!

Maybe this is where the beetles have been breeding, because I couldn't see larvae anywhere in the hive!  So I'm not very happy with the bottom board as there are spaces and crevices where the beetles can hide and breed without being harassed by bees. I will not use this type again.  I've nothing against using screened bottom boards; indeed I plan to add a screen to the bottom of my existing base boards. It's just that the type that allows you to slide a sticky board between the baseboard and the screen seems to be a bit of a safe haven for pests.  In future I will only use this screen when I want to use a sticky board i.e. as a temporary measure.