I was under the impression that, like wax moth seeming to be the cause of a
colony's demise, SHB are an indicator that other things were going on which
weakened a colony enough to cause the colony's death.
I used to think that also..... Watch a cpl 3 deep hives full of brood and
honey and 80K bees collapse! You change thoughts....
I do think there is a what I will call an economic threshold. A point
where suddenly things change. I can't tell you what it is, But I would
guess it also varies on hive size. My gut is telling me it actually
happens when the bees are no longer consuming all the pollen in the pollen
band quickly. But its just a hunch. A brood slow down and a pollen surplus
if you will.
Geoff makes a comment that being queenless can trigger it. While I am sure
it will, Most of the hives we found this year destroyed were queenright. And
still small patches of brood.
Usually the bees will try to move up and away from the beetles. Towards the
end they will abscond. You may open the hives and find a few late hatching
homeless bees, and a mess of beetles. Had I not seen various stages of it,
I would suspect CCD. The girl that works for me as a helper just this
week brought me her hive from her yard. Dead and gone. Aug10 she took a
deep box of honey off. 2 weeks ago she started feeding. This week she went
to feed, bees absconded. Brood nest looks like a minefield, SHB larva
everywhere. Some active brood hatching. Typical of what we find. This
year has been the worst. Strong hives going.
Since I found the ones in the pumpkins I have been spending a lot of time
looking closer..... and to Goeffs point, it happens quick. It seems once
some of the SHB larva start feeding on bee larva, things decline in 3-4
days. The beetles explode, and the bees DO NOT POLICE hatched SHB larva.
Hives that will aggressively attack a beetle will passively ignore crawling
larva.
I can see easily how we can belive the beetles move into a dying hive. I
thought I observed that for the last 3-4 years. Now I am thinking much
differently. I believe that what happens is in a given area one hive
allows a few larva to hatch and pupate, and suddenly they are overwhelmed
when those larva emerge. 2 yards we had in a shaded woody area we lost
almost every hive. full sun and dry soil change the game.
Currently wondering if termite treatment in the soil will kill larva. I
would be glad to treat the soil in the yards with it. Gaurdstar seems to
help, but I don't know how residual it is in a rainy area like ours.
Randy asked about queens from different areas. Excellent question to which I
have no answer I had not thought about it. But I will look and see if I
have the right records. I have a good mix of queens Some from FL, some
from Wilbanks, some from Oliveraz, and some from Weavers as well as my
locals. (about even portions) I do know that some hives will have a few
beetles, and the one next to it will have none.
Peter Neumanna, b and Stephan Härtela show that AHB remove the hatched SHB
larva, AM bees do not as far as I can tell I have watched the larva crawl
around the hive and be ignored. It might be interesting to see if that
happens in every hive or if some hives are hygienic to SHB.
http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/publications/JARnotereprint.pdf
Ellis observation were also in fact that the beetles will lay in capped
cells in absence of other suitable locations. While they may, I think Ellis
observations were forced, and that the beetle Larva hatch in the pollen
band and tunnel into brood when the pollen is gone, as a more natural
progression.
I also know for a fact they winter in the cluster. I have found many in
frozen clusters. They seem to hunker down in a cell and the bees can't get
to them (turtle style)
SHB will also lay and hatch in division board feeders Open style the Lava
will crawl out. It does seem that Mann lake style with the tube ladders the
larva do not escape and in fact drown ( I can show you hundreds in the
bottoms of feeders) Right now I am trying a bit of bleach in the feed to
see if that helps.
My goal is not to convince the world. Just to let you know when you start
to see beetles, take action. IMO they are my second biggest issue. This
season actually my first because I am handling Varro. SHB in 150 hives is
harder to manage so far.
For what its worth, I know that SHB currently move in an area VIA nucs and
packages both. I have seen them in both. In packages they crawl between
the wire and the center wood brace. The package I developed lets them out
while the are still in the bee yard. Its not uncommon to pick up a newly
shaken package and several of them are on the ground underneath.
Charles
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