Ugh, Waxmoth

[ziffabeek]

Well, here I am waiting for my AJ's shb trap, and what do I see under the hive this evening? 2 wax moth's!!! Ugh!  I'm almost sure that's what they are - silver in color and a little less than a cenimeter long?  I didn't see any sign of them when I went into the hive 10 days ago.  I'm planning on going in tomorrow to see if I see any damage.  I had thought my hive was pretty strong as they were making honey and brood and everything, but now I'm all worried again!

What is the best thing to do for wax moth?  I really want to remain chemical free if I can.  Can you kill them once they've gotten into a hive.  Are there any beneficials that will eat them?

Just when I was starting to relax . . .

Thanks for any advice.

love,
Ziffa

I just realized this is in the wrong category.  If I can figure out how to delete it I will :( Sorry.

[troutstalker2]

 
The only thing I've found is a strong hive. They will decimate a struggling one, but a strong hive can keep them at bay.

David

[beedad]

i pulled my outer cover off about a month ago and had one fly out, i couldnt believe it.  but its a strong hive and i havent had any issues at all.

[sean]

After cleaning out the hive you could try reducing the amount of frames in there and then gradually add them back as the bee population increases

[troutstalker2]

   Sean, great advise

[Cossack]

If you have seen them then get ready they are here. The have most likely laid eggs and you will see them soon enough.

If you have a strong hive then you are ok. But if you don't then get ready because they will decimate  your hive.

Sory to tell you bad news but they have done alot of damage to mine and I know what they can do.

Good Luck..
Mike.

[sc-bee]

>Well, here I am waiting for my AJ's shb trap, and what do I see under the hive this evening? 2 wax moth's!!!

Key word---Under the hive. Under the hive where the bees don't protect!
Probably won't be problem for the rest of the hive above.

[Joelel]

http://www.beecare.com/indexDynFrames.htm?http://www.beecare.com/Bees/Metamorphosis.htm&1


Wax moth

The wax moth (golleria mellonclia) commonly enters beehives to lay its eggs.  If the hive is weak, the moth larvae can be very destructive, eating honeybee brood and destroying comb.  Wax moths are not generally a problem with a stronger hive, as there are enough worker bees on the frames to keep the moth population at a minimum. 

Location within the hive
The wax moth adult (shown here) enters the beehive and quickly hides from the bees to avoid being stung to death.  The adult may be found on the empty honeycomb of a frame that has few or no worker bees; a weak hive will have such empty frames available.  The adult moths most commonly hide in crevices too small for bees to enter, such as under the edge of the top cover, as shown in this illustration.
The moth larvae spin webs on the frames or on the bottom board, as shown in the illustrations on this page, tunneling through the comb and destroying honey, pollen and bee brood.

Larvae
The wax moth larvae are light gray or tan-colored grubs, approximately 3/4 inch long.  These larvae have the ability to crawl on their own over 10 ft, so if you remove them from the hive but merely throw them onto the ground, they could crawl right back into the hives!  Always completely destroy the larvae unless you plan to use them for fish bait (some people even fry and eat them).
Pupa
This picture shows the pupal stage of the wax moth pre-adult development.  The larva has formed a chrysalis, much like a butterfly, and grows to adulthood within this shell.  Workers in the honeybee colony will often carry the chrysalis to the entrance or drag it out of the hive completely.  If you see these at the hive entrance, you have a problem with wax moths.  The larva has already done its damage, and you need to open and inspect the hive to help the bees eradicate the moth population in the hive.
Moth larvae webs
A serious wax moth invasion will look like this on the bottom board when you remove frames to inspect the hive.  You must remove all the frames and eliminate all traces of the moths.   A closer inspection of the picture at left reveals several moth cocoons in the webs.
Eradicating the moth invaders
After opening the hive and removing the frames, you should scrape out all traces of the moths.  Notice the larvae in the webs.  The small, dark specks are larva feces.
Finish them off
Don't take chances; either save the larvae for yourself (for fish bait, snacks, whatever) or kill them.

[annette]

If they are indeed inside the hive and not just on the inner cover, you need to bring the hive down in size asap. Crowd the bees down into one or 2 supers until they have enough population to cover all the frames in the supersl. 

This happened to me and that is what I did and I was able to save my hive. 

[MustbeeNuts]

  xantari? isn't that a prduct for wax moth, a bacteria that supposed to kill the larvae.??

[sc-bee]

Xentari

http://www.valentbiosciences.com/agricultural_products/agricultural_products_6.asp

[asprince]

It works great.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,8351.0.html

Steve

[annette]

I did order that product also, but never had to use it once I reduced the hive down in size.  I heard it works really great also.

[Michael Bush]

The Bt will kill them, but reducing the hive down to what they can handle is the best solution.  Remove the infested combs and cut the hive down to a size they can handle.

[ziffabeek]

Wow, thanks for all the answers guys.  I couldn't figure out how to move this to pests forum, I appreciate your responses.

It was rainy and windy all weekend so I wasn't able to get inside to look.  The hive is currently only 2 deep brood boxes.   I already removed the medium super I had about 10 days ago, when I had my SHB scare.  The bees are pretty packed into the deeps, so I don't think I could remove one of them.

I've only seen those 2 moths, so hopefully, sc-bees is right and they are managing them.  As soon as it's clear again, I will look inside and see if I need to clean.  I was going to try and add the super back for our fall flow, but I may just leave it off till spring and hope they don't get too crowded in the short run.  They've looked really healthy up until now, and I had another orientation cloud yesterday afternoon, so they are still hatching newbees.  I feel like i'm at this cusp where they need more room, but if I give them more room, they'll get sick.  frustrating

I did order an entrance reducer.  I hadn't thought of only putting a few frames in the super at a time.  Will that work?  Maybe if I reduce the entrance, add my shb traps and only put one or two frames in the super, I can give them a little more room and they can still guard it.  If I try this, where should I place the frames?  To one side or in the middle?  Will they build messy comb?

Thanks again for the ideas and for the bacteria's name, I'm gonna go search for that now on the web.

Have a great day,

love,
ziffa