In my own experience (Central Texas) hives kept on hard surfaces with NO vegetation have almost no small hive beetle problems.  There is also a stark contrast in the number of adult you will see in a hive in full sunshine vs shade.  In places where watermelons, cantaloups or squash are raised the adult population in hive will sky rocket.  Any hive with rotting wood ware will also maintain larger adult small hive beetle. 

Prevention... keeping well populated hives and limiting any excessive space are the first thing anyone with shb problems should think about doing.  Frames infested with adult population (prior to the slime stage frames will look a bit dingy, rough and unpolished)are frozen for 24 hours and then placed into a well populated hive < much like wax moth infestation this kills everything down to the egg stage. Swiffer duster pad (cut into 3 or 4 long strips) and placed at the top and back side of the hive will trap the adult small hive beetles much like tangle foot that is used in some green house operation.

It is my observation that most beetles are not strong flyers (the basic anatomy of beetle suggest this directly) and the larvae stage when exposed to sunshine and heat will turn brownish and die very very quickly.  A hive that drives the sub to the extremities of the hive (either to the top cover or below the bottom board) is imho is displaying exactly the kind of behavior you want in a hive where the shb is a problem.

Not in my own experience but reported to me by others... wood ash spread around the base of a hive will limit the shb population < I would suspect here that anything you can do to alter the ph (up or down) of the soil directly around the hive will negative impact the sub at the pupae stage.    

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html