Small Hive Beetle Lure
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Small hive beetle lure fermenting in my refrigerator. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Small Hive Beetle Lure
My bee buddy David was the first to share this recipe for a homemade lure to keep small hive beetle numbers low inside bee hives. For years we called it “David’s Cocktail.”
You can buy lure or you can make your own. I tend to make my own since I have banana peels galore.
Small Hive Beetle (SHB) Trap Lure Recipe (also called David's Cocktail)
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup sugar
1 cup water
1 ripe banana peel cut up finely (or two cut up banana peels if using white vinegar)
Combine all ingredients and allow to ferment for about 2 weeks.
Fill center of re-usable traps with lure. Fill side traps 1/3 full with mineral or vegetable oil. Replace when full of small hive beetles or every few days. Also make sure the lids are securely down or bees will die in the traps.
With hotter weather, traps should be checked and refreshed more frequently. Clear top of traps of propolis.
During spring-fall, place small hive beetle traps in opposing super corners and rotate the placement as you add supers.
For winter, place small hive beetle traps in the center of the hive where the bees will cluster.
Using small hive beetle traps is not a replacement for checking frames for small hive beetle larvae or for beekeepers themselves killing small hive beetles in hives.
Small hive beetles can take over a stressed strong colony in just a few days so carefully monitor your hives for these destructive, invasive species from sub-Sahara Africa.
