Frame Guide › Pests & poisoning
Small Hive Beetle Slime-Out: what it looks like on the frame
Hot, humid August. The box smells fermented, like rotting oranges.
Small dark beetles scuttling for the shadows the moment you cracked the lid, and comb running with a slimy ooze that smells fermented. Beetle larvae tunnel through the frames and foul the honey as they go — once it slimes like this the bees will abandon the box.
Tighten the hive to what the bees can patrol, and trap the beetles
Beetles win in space the bees can't cover, so the fix is to shrink the colony's territory to what it can actually defend, add traps, and keep colonies strong. Extra empty boxes are exactly the wrong move — you'd be handing the beetles unguarded ground.
Easy to mistake for
- Wax Moth DamageThe outside frames of a colony that's been dwindling for a month.
- European FoulbroodMay · built up fast, then stalled. A faint sour smell.
- Honey-Bound Brood NestStrong flow on. Bees crowding, and the queen seems to have nowhere to go.
Could you spot this with the lid off?
Read the Frame deals you 8 random frames. Say what you see, say what you'd do, and find out why. It's free and runs on your phone.
Drill pests & poisoning → Mixed round (all 32 frames) →More pests & poisoning
- Varroa Mites & Deformed Wing VirusAugust · your alcohol wash came back at 9 mites per 100 bees.
- Wax Moth DamageThe outside frames of a colony that's been dwindling for a month.
- RobbingLate August dearth. Bees wrestling on the landing board.
- Bald BroodJune · a good colony, but these lines of open cells caught your eye.
- Pesticide PoisoningA field next door was sprayed in bloom yesterday. Piles of dead bees out front today.
- Healthy Colony, Low Mite CountLate June · an alcohol wash of 300 bees turned up 2 mites.
These frames are drawn to teach the pattern, and real frames vary. From The Alleman Apiary in Middletown, PA.