On this episode, we learn share everything you ever wanted to know about Small Hive Beetles, with Drs. Morgan Roth and Aaron Gross, from Virginia Tech.

Small hive beetles cause about $3 million dollars damage to US beehives every year. Today we explore their life cycle, how they find your hives, the damage they can do if you don’t interfere, how they spread, and most importantly, what you can do to slow, or stop them from destroying your hive and killing your bees.

They eat honey, pollen, eggs and larvae. And they bring with them a fungus that turns their fecal waste into a slime that may be the worst thing imaginable in a bee hive.

There are several ways to attack this creature and stop them from spreading to other hives. You can trap them inside your hives, you can make the area around your hives dangerous for them to burrow in when they leave and pupate outside the hive or you can provide pesticides or bacteria outside the hive that will stop them.

Also in today’s episode, Ed Colby returns with a story from his book, “A Beekeeper’s Life: Tales of a Beekeeper”, titled Staying Cool. Ed has a great tale on how to keep cool on while working bees in the heat of the summer!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

• Virginia Tech Paper on the Small Hive Beetle - https://digitalpubs.ext.vt.edu/vcedigitalpubs/5235922779538617/MobilePagedReplica.action?pm=2&folio=1#pg1
• Drs. Roth and Gross's Published Paper on the Small Hive Beetle - https://digitalpubs.ext.vt.edu/vcedigitalpubs/5235922779538617/MobilePagedReplica.action?pm=2&folio=1#pg1
• Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. Betterbee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: [email protected]

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC