what the ????

[greenismycolor]

This is my original hive 10 frame deep each frame was full of bees about 6 weeks ago, I split it and each one had or was hatching a new queen. It was growing in great numbers of population,(the split is great) then today I found this.


and this


and


and this



and more of the same and lots and lots of ants. 
I checked it almost about 3 weeks ago and they were storing some nectar and building brood like crazy. And again about 2 weeks ago they were eating what they has stored. Figuring it was from all the heavy rain.
Is this wax moth? or???
I have 3 other hives,that are doing good, but they sit very close to each other. What precautions if any should I take to protect the other hives?

green

[greenismycolor]

Oh, I forgot, there are no bees, no brood, no honey, and no pollen. I did see just a few (6) hive bettles but no larva. I found  larva of some kind  about an inch long dead on the bottom board.

green

[Cheryl]

Oh, my goodness, YUCK! Wax moth. That colony must have been weak or compromised in some way. The poor dears. Kill the moth larvae!!! Or better yet, use them as fishing bait.

You can freeze those frames for a couple days, if you don't want to go hunting for each and every cocoon. Freezing will kill the eggs too.

[greenismycolor]

Cheryl
If I freeze them can I use them again?

green

[beee farmer]

Yes you can as long as your sure that they didnt have foulbrood diesase.

[Cheryl]

Yes you can as long as your sure that they didnt have foulbrood diesase.

^^ What he said.

The bees will clean up the mess, and repair and use the comb.

[annette]

Definitely looks like wax moths to me.

You might not have had enough bees to prevent the wax moths from taking over.  They are almost always in the hives, just that a strong hive will constantly keep them in check and they will not take over. When you split them, the numbers probably were to small and they took over and even drove the bees out.

I had a very strong hive, or what I thought was a strong hive almost ruined by them.  I caught them in  time to save the hive. You crowd the bees down to a small super or nuc even so they have enough bees to keep the moths out.

So sorry this happened to you.

[Scadsobees]

Yup, freeze them to kill the moth caterpillars and reuse as soon as the hive is strong enough.

[greenismycolor]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. Your a great help.
I have the complete hive in the freezer now.
How can I be sure there is no foulbrood disease? I have read about it but at this stage I am not sure what to look for.
green

[sc-bee]

 As Annette said: wax moth attack colonies that are weak for some other reason. a couple reasons ( but not all inclusive) could be hive strength or queenless.

There is no reason to suspect foul brood because you had wax moths. Not that I am aware of :? After reading the post again I guess the poster just wants you to bee sure no sign of AHB if you re-use frames. I don't see any in pics. I see no brood.

Different types of foulbroods. I guess the poster meant AFB. Big give away in most cases is rotten foul smell and dark sunken brood. Brood is ropey when you stick it and pull it with a small stick etc.

Here's a link with details:

http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/bkCD/Bee_Diseases/AFB.html

[greenismycolor]

Thanks SC Bee....There is no brood at all, all honey that was stored is gone. There might have been a bit of stored pollen, but not much at all. It smelled quiet nice actually, a normal kinda waxy honey smell.
thanks a lot for your input.

green