Wax moths destroyed hive

[sweetdonna27601]

I recently found one of my hives had been destroyed by wax moths. I cleaned all the webs and cocoon looking things from the hive and the frames and I even ran a blow torch over the surface of the hive and each frame to be sure all the eggs were gone. Do you think it will be ok to put bees back in this hive in the spring, or should I just trash it?

[hardwood]

You'll be fine reusing the frames and boxes...even the comb if you didn't trash it too much. A strong hive will take care of it for you.

Where are you sweetdonna? If you're in a climate that gets cold in winter (it'd help if you put your location in your profile :) ) the freezes will kill the eggs and larvae so keep them outside. If not, stow them in your freezer.

Scott

[sweetdonna27601]

Thanks, hardwood. I am in lower Alabama, about 30 miles from the Florida line.

All the wax was totally destroyed...it was a mess.

I have not had experience with wax moths before, so I wasn't sure how to handle it. The guys at my beekeeping club didn't know for sure either. Guess I'll try it come spring.

[wd]

This was in a hive with no occupants. While they were there, they appeared to have kept the wax moth at bay. I saw them in a propolis trap just under the top cover but didn't notice any else where. At the suggestion / advice of others here I reused the gold comb last year.

I did scrape the edges and cleaned up the webs and cocoons, I was going to use what was left for swarms, instead I reused them in honey boxes, it worked out fine. I cleaned up what was left of the darkest comb with a pressure washer but I did keep a few frames of the dark stuff for swarms, nothing happened with that though.


I thought the wax moth cleaned this first one up pretty good.

[VolunteerK9]

Buy yourself some BT and treat all your drawn comb to save future damage. I just bought myself some and plan on treating mine in a week or so. Drawn comb is a very valuable commodity.

[AllenF]

Ya, bt or stick them in the freezer.

[Michael Bush]

Brush off the webs and put a package of bees or a swarm in it.

[wd]

do I need to say this? I don't know but I will, I left this hive and one other sit with out occupants for awhile in hopes a swarm would land which didn't happen.  Each were in a different location with apiaries a mile or so from where these sat. Some where during this time I managed to develop the idea that the wax on these frames were contaminated beyond wax moth. In using some for bait hives, bees, perhaps scouts would show up but it didn't work out.

[Scadsobees]

wd...wax moths are usually a opportunistic secondary pest.  So if you leave any unprotected hive out when the temps are going to be higher than the 50s (i don't know the actual temp range that the moths work in) then you are inviting them in.

Any comb that I leave around over the summer will have caterpillers (moth larvae).  Comb left to try to attract a swarm should not be any kind of comb that you want to keep.  But judging from your pics they didn't do any significant damage, that's the beauty of plastic frames....

And usually there is about a 2 month window of opportunity when the bulk of swarms is, and if you limit your comb exposure to that period of time you can minimize moth damage.

Rick

[wd]

ok, thanks...

[sweetdonna27601]

Thanks, everyone.... I'll just put them on as soon as things get started again this spring. I do feel a lot better about using the boxes and frames after seeing what everyone wrote, thanks again!