This short video will show the effectiveness of Freeman style small hive beetle traps after being placed on an infected hive for 24 hours.
Take note of the fact that there are zero dead bees and a lot of dead beetles.
This trap type requires a special hardware cloth, any old cloth will not do. The average size of an adult small hive beetle is 3.2mm across the back, so you must use hardware cloth with an average aperture of 3.2mm (not just 6 squares per inch which is what "#6" actually means. The wire diameter used to make the weave causes the aperture (opening) between each wire to vary, considerably. Some #6 cloth is enormous and some are much too small, depending on the wire diameter used to make the cloth. We use a cloth with an average aperture of 3.2004mm. Make sure if you do not buy from us that the "aperture" of the cloth you are getting is no larger than this or you will have lots of dead bees. The number 7 cloth and the #6 cloth we sell have the correct aperture size for freeman style small hive beetle traps.
#8 hardware cloth will not work for small hive beetle traps. The reason for this is that hive beetles are sexually dimorphic. Meaning the females and males are not the same sizes. #8 hardware cloth will not allow female beetles to pass as they are too large. You will only catch males, which is pointless as they are not the ones that lay the eggs and destroy your hives. Don't believe me? Check any reference on small hive beetle size and the females are listed in all entomology journals as 3.2mm across the carapace. the aperture on all #8 hardware cloths sold is smaller than this. The largest #8 cloth sold has an aperture of 0.124" which is 3.129mm. The average from retailers is much smaller than this!
I see beekeepers all over the beekeeping forums asking where to get #8 hardware cloth, and they are being told by countless numbers of "experienced" beekeepers to use #8 cloth to make small hive beetle traps. Folks, this just doesn't work. The average aperture of #8 cloth is 2.362mm a full 30% smaller than an adult small hive beetle! How is this supposed to allow an adult small hive beetle into a trap? It Can't!
It's no wonder than many people try this trap, say it doesn't work and move on to something else. This is literally the best trap to use for small hive beetles! Freeman style small hive beetle traps, when used with the correct mesh cloth are 99.9% effective in ridding a hive of small hive beetles. I have seen countless hives "on the brink" of being over-run, completely recover in 48 hours after the introduction of a freeman style small hive beetle trap.
Link to this product in our store: Small Hive Beetle Traps
Link to our hardware cloth for beekeepers: Hardware cloth for beekeepers