About Beetltra

About Beetltra

BEETLTRA PTY. LTD. is an Australian Owned company established to develop a safe and effective solution to the problem of Small Hive Beetle.

After trying a number of ways to control Small Hive Beetle (SHB), we chanced upon using a tray underneath beehives to catch SHB.

beetltra-under-beehiveThe BEETLTRA design uses high quality injection moulded trays and rails. The trays are UV stable black plastic and light proof to encourage beetles to enter.

Fitted to the underside of the hive, BEETLTRA removes the most labour intesive job to get a clean bee box and shake all the bees and beetles onto a hive lid and kill the beetles.

While doing our product development, we noticed several things in beetle infested hives:

  • The bees were very placid.
  • The beetles fouled the floor and walls of the brood box which made cleaning of the boxes necessary about every 2 weeks.
  • The number of beetles present were relative to the amount of pollen in the hive and strong hives with large stores of pollen had the most beetles.
  • The beetles could hold themselves into the box corners so that the bees could not remove them.
  • The bees could control the beetles better if there was good bee coverage of all the frames, so excess boxes were removed.

BEETLTRA
beetltra-trayThe trays are mounted into slide rails so the tray can be slid out to inspect and clean without opening the beehive. We recommend using garden lime or hydrated lime to kill beetles and grubs caught. The trays can also hold liquid. The lime can be sifted and re-used or placed safely in the garden.

beetltra-slots

 

BEETLTRA recommends cutting slots in the base of bee boxes. During product development we experimented with various sizes and hole types. Slots are the most efficient way to catch the largest quantities of the small hive beetle.

 

 

 

Benefits of the Beetltra trap design 

  • Australian made uv stabilised plastic
  • the tray has large capacity
  • the trap has proven efficiency
  • one trap per hive
  • the beehive is not opened
  • design and trap position does not affect the moving of the hive
  • the trap is outside and does not reduce the capacity of the beehive
  • the trap cannot contaminate the honey, affect the bees, or reduce the number of frames
  • 30 second checking operation – remove – clean – fill – replace
  • checking can be done anytime, day or night as beehive is not opened
  • no insecticide is used
  • environmentally friendly
  • the bees use the trap to dump rubbish (wax from stickies – husk from sheoaks –  chalkbrood mummies) resulting in cleaner bottom boards, and less litter on bottoms in which wax moth and small hive beetles can hide and breed.
  • the trap can indicate problems
  • water in the trap from condensation may indicate a cold hive, too many boxes for the number of bees, or too shaded
  • beetle or moth maggots found in the trap may have bred in the trap rubbish or may indicate an immediate inspection of the inside of the hive for beetle infestation is needed

Fitted underneath the beehive (not inside) BEETLTRA assists to keep the hive floor and walls clean from beetle fouling. Additionally, exterior fitting means the trays are checked from outside the hives.

SHB CAUSES LOSS OF PROFIT 

  • SHB feeds on bee eggs, live bee larvae, honey and pollen
  • SHB reduces bee numbers by eating bee eggs and larvae
  • SHB reduces honey production by reducing bee numbers
  • SHB causes bees to guard beetles reducing honey gathering to an extent bees eat their own stores
  • SHB fouls stores of honey causing fermentation rendering honey unsaleable
  • SHB causes loss of Queen bees
  • SHB causes loss of bees
  • SHB causes loss of frames and wax
  • SHB wastes beekeepers’ time, money and effort cleaning and restoring hives
  • SHB causes loss of honey production