wax moth

[leel]

open up 1 of my hives today and found it was full of wax moth larve.
they took over the hive will post pic tomorrow

[hankdog1]

You have had another problem that the wax moths took advantage of before you could fix it.  They can sure distory a hive if you don't stay on top of the bees and keep the numbers up.  On the bright side wax moth larve makes excellent trout bait.

[Larry Bees]

I feel your pain!

I lost at least six nucs that way this year. My fault! I let them get too weak and the moths took over.

Larry

[AllenF]

If you have some wax left in some of the frames, you can freeze it to kill the wax moth out and use the drawn comb in other hives or for swarms.  You hive was very weak or already gone when the moths took over.  A strong hive is the best defense against moths.

[BlueBee]

Yep, been there before.  Here's one of the rats trying to get into one of my nucs :evil:



As hankdog says, if the bee numbers fall for some reason, the moths can quickly take over and destroy a hive/nuc.  When dealing with this pest, plastic foundation is a God send!  At least with plastic foundation you have a chance to stop an infestation if you spot it in time.  In nucs you have to be vigilant until they build up their numbers.

You ought to see what the wax worms can do to low density foam! :shock: