What was that?

[obxbee]

I checked my hives today and when I went to remove the
Cover plate for my screened bottom board I noticed something that looked like mole tunnels on the top of the board. Kind of like a tube of dirt. After I scrapped that all off I cleaned off the SBB snd under thst were seversl rows of small silk cocoons thst looked like wax moths.
I scrsped them off too.
What would make the dirt tubes on the sheet covering the screened bottom board?

[c10250]

wasps make dirt tubes.  They lay their eggs in them, and then stuff the tube with paralyzed bugs.

[obxbee]

This wasnt wasp nests this was a small tube running around in a haphazard way.
It almost looked like the tubes termites build but the ipm board had no damage to it.
Could that be from wax moths?

[Barry]

without being able to actually see what you're talking about its difficult to give an intelligent answer but if that was termite tubes that hides got some serious problems

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[Vance G]

What you described sounds like wax moth larvae working to me.  Were the dirty tunnels silk and little dark spots that are feces?  I have no knowledge of termites.

[G3farms]

More than likely wax moth larva. The bees can not get to the area between the screen and cover to keep it cleaned out, resulting in wax worms feeding on the waste that falls down in this area.

[hjon71]

If you notice an indent in the wood after removing the tube I'd say that is a good indication of wax moth larvae activity.

[jayj200]

I have seen the wax moth.

may I lend a little extra description here?

what I have seen down here is liken to sand tunnels smaller than 1/8 inch.

touch them and they crumble to sand like particles.

ideas any one?

[gmcharlie]

termites make tunnels with poo....  looks like a dirt tunnel   its how they move from one point to another without sunlite.  wax moths would be a caccon tunnel  like a spiderweb.

[obxbee]

When I saw the two rows of coccoons undrr the screened bottom board
I thought about it being was moths. I did not have any grooves chewed
Anywhere. Ive seen wax moths before. I will check my second hive the
Next warm day we have and see if I can tale pictures of snything I find that looked like what I saw on the first hive.
I have no wax moth damage on the hives so far.
Thanks to everyone for their help.

[loumaro]

If it is termites there will be a tube from the hive to the ground. They have to return to the ground every so
often. At least that is what I have heard.


Louie

[obxbee]

Both my hives are sitting on 12 X 12 pressure treated sections of pilings
One under the front and one under the back of the hive.
They give me plenty of room to rest frames do they dont get sand on them
during inspections.
The pilings are about 3 1/2 feet long.
I have not seen any sign of termites or
Wax moths. Just spiders and a few roaches.

[robinh]

Sounds like dirt dabbers to me .Here in Ga. they will build dirt tunnels every where, like behind vinyl siding or any close area they can hide.The tunnels are made with whatever dirt source is available and they will crumble when pressure is applied.The longer they are there the less fragile the tunnels are.