Making Simple Small Hive Beetle Traps

My friend Jerry showed me how to do this.  Cheap, easy, and effective.  We use two of these on the top of each brood chamber (on the frame top bars), set close to the edge of the box where the beetles like to congregate.


This is a piece of plastic sign board, typically used for political signs.  This one happens to be a mite count board off a screened bottom board.

I don't know if the picture captures this well, but the sign board is corregated for strength, with continuous cells running through it.  The SHB's will use these tubes for protection from the bees in the hive.  And we will bait these passages with yummy poison.

 We cut the board up into strips and then squares, roughly four inches per side...

....And arm ourselves with roach paste. 

 We like this syringe applicator as it allows for easy introduction of the poison to the tubes.

We make a partial cut through one side of the board piece, and bend to expose the tubes.

 Add some paste to the tubes...

And close the crack back up.   You can see, sort of, how we now have a series of tunnels, accessible from both ends, with a treat of roach paste in the middle.  Simply cover the cut portion with a strip of duct tape, and you are done.