Bob Harrison wrote

> My conclusion and the conclusion of others looking at the phenomenon is
that
> the small hive beetle is in the hive to lay eggs  (which is the same for
the
> wax moth) and when the hive is opened or  disturbed the SHb will come out
> even in the presence of bees and lay eggs ( the adult beetle leaves the
hive
> after the laying of eggs).

When we first got SHB we were concerned about this as we were opening hives
for inspection and expecting a massive egg lay after the inspection.  It did
not happen.

I was intrigued by the work of Jamie Ellis, published in the ABJ I think,
that the bees actually seem to make these "prisons" for the beetles and keep
them there.  The SHB even seem to be able to mimic bees and make the bees
feed them whilst they are "imprisoned".  Jamie came to our Queenasland
confernec this year as our guest speaker and actually had video footage of
bees feeding SHB in these "prisons".

It would seem that what happens when the hive is opened is that these
"prisons", which are often on the top bar under the inner covers of lids or
the lid if it is flat on the top bars, are broken and the SHB is free to run
and lay eggs.  If you see what happens when you lift the lid, the SHB run to
the dark cormers of the hive or into cells.

The SHB can get into an empty cell on a brood frame and lay eggs in the 6
adjoining cells through the cell walls.  The eggs hatch with 24 hours and
then the larvae are out.

This information came out after the trip to the USA by the authors of the Oz
report.

All I know is that we don't know much about the SHB and what to expect.  The
Oz experience in no way matches the experinces in the USA but maybe that
will change with time.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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