I have been seeing some hive beetles in my hives. I put in some traps and had some in them but they propolis them closed. It's not an infestation but I see a few 3 or 4 when opening the lid. Saw one on the block a hive sits on out side of the hive as well.

My hives are in full sun. Has anyone tried nematodes for reducing hive beetles? If so what were the results.

I also thought about applying grub control in winter allowing it to get into the ground before the bee's come out in the spring but not sure about that. I thought it would kill the larva in the ground but not hurt the bee's by the time they come out. Any ideas and thoughts on these ideas?

If you are just seeing 3 or 4 in a hive I would not worry about them. Here there is always a few in a hive but the bees seem to keep them under control if you have a healthy hive. I run a lot of 3 and 5 frame nucs and almost never have a problem with them unless there is a queen issue. The main thing I have found is not to give a colony more drawn frame than they can cover, that is were a lot of beetles issues come from.

Same here. Beetles aren't an issue IF you have enough bees to cover frames and full sun.

Now that said many like the swiffer sheets.

I've heard mixed reports on nematodes and am of the opinion treating them in the soil is barring the door after the horse has left the barn.

I prefer guardstar ground drench as a two for one deal on ants and beetles.

I use rubber/plastic under the hives 6ft. wide and as long as my row is , beetle larva crawl out of the hives and bury in the soil to pupate . I believe the plastic prevents most of them from reaching the soil and the chickens probably pick them off before they crawl off . seems to work as we don't have issues with beetles. .it comes in rolls not sure if you can buy it my buddy gets rejected rolls . That said , I have always used sugar water for mites , mixture of warm water and sugar 50/50 , sprayed in the hive to cover the bees and they seem to clean their self off and dislodge the mites , June / Sept/

Thanks guys. I did add a supper to 3 hives with new frames in hopes they would draw comb and and I would have frames read to go next year. I wasn't sure it was a good idea because of the hive beetles I have seen. It's been a week and half so I probably need to check and see if they are working the frames or not yet.

A most of mu hives are new from swarm traps and had a lot of comb with brood on the bottom of the frames so I left those on and put in a double deep instead of cutting off and rubber banding in an empty frame. My mentor said I can clean it up next spring when it's empty. I found it makes inspections tough and think I will remove it an put on a frame in the future.

Warrior dose the gardstar not harm the bee's or is there a best time of day to apply like at night when they are all in and it has all night to dry?

When I opened my hives almost instantly I had Yellow jackets landing on the frames and even a hornet. My wife found a place that shipped the taurus sc to me. It arrived yesterday so it will be game on for those suckers when I get back home Monday morning. They are getting really bad. I can't get out the back door with out 30 of them flying around. They like the spilled sugar water I'm feeding the bee's that on out gator.

Edit I thought about putting gravel around the hives for hive beetles control or pouring concrete. But they have not been an issue so far just a concern since I have been seeing a few.

I really enjoy my new hobby (2nd year) but there is so much to learn.
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I wanted to expand from 2 to around 10 hives this year. I got up to 8 and now down to 4. I didn't get the queen from 2 ball swarms, and lost some queens and didn't check my hive often enough do didn't catch it or I just didn't recognize it and ended up with laying workers in two hives.

I tried to requeen and learned that won't work. Then tried putting one in a box on top of a box I put a new swarm with open brood in it with screen separating the boxes so the sent of queen and brood could get through for a month. Entrance on opposite sides of course.

I figured after a month the laying worker problem would be corrected and I could combine them. It may have worked but the swarm with the queen lost their queen. I ended up dumping both hives. Stunk because they were my first two and both made it through winter that had the laying workers.

There were times I was discouraged enough I was thinking about getting out of bee's.

No proof or studies done but I'm a firm believer in chickens helping control SHB.

Hmm I'm sure they do. They made a difference with ticks at my old house. But my bee's are in my back field furthest from my house and roads. I also have them spaced 25 or 30 yards apart. I don't think it would be practical for me to run the birds back there. Unless I took the electro net and the coop back there but the goats would probably cause problems trying to climb on the hives.

Definitely something to think about. Maybe get some more net and build another coop on trailer and just run another flock back there. I could definitely use the grasshopper control.

As for drawing comb this time of year it is hard to get them to do it, they have winter and storage on there mind not expanding. But if you have a good strong hive a super on top will not hurt them.

The best way I have found to fix a laying worker colony is to shake them out then place a frame of open brood in the hive and give them a 48 hour cell, they will finish the cell out and cap it if they have plenty of bees.