Polystyrene hives need to be protected against mice and rats. Rodents like to gnaw, (something to do with keeping their teeth short) and some plastics provide the perfect gnawing material, as the apiary team found out after the new polystyrene hives were attacked in a lean-to-shed at the end of the summer, last year.
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Beecraft broadcast the first in a series of talks last week. The subject this time was the Small Hive Beetle.
More talks coming up on December 17th, January 21st, February 18th, March 18th and April 15th, all at 8:00pm
From Beebase
On September 11 2014, the Italian Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, National Reference Laboratory for Apiculture (IZSV) confirmed the first detection of the presence of Small hive beetle (SHB) in South West Italy, in the port city of Gioia Tauro. A second outbreak was confirmed in Rosarno, approximately 1 km from the first infested apiary on September 17th 2014. In this outbreak, 4 colonies were found to be infested. Since then further infested apiaries have been confirmed. Further details will be made available as the situation evolves on the IZSV website (in English) and on the ANSES European Union Reference laboratory for honey bee health website.