Wax Moths in March

[BlueBee]

I found some wax moths (caterpillars) crawling around in the wax debris under my screened bottom boards today!  I'm in Michigan to boot.  Not too many, I just saw about 4 in their 2nd or 3rd instar.  I'm sure the bees chased them out of the hives.  I'm not too worried because the hives are just boiling over with bees at this point.  All the insulation I use does seem to help the moths overwinter too; something to keep in mind.

[luvin honey]

And I think I found scads of varroa mites being cleaned out at the hive entrances! I've never seen varroa before, but there were tiny (head of pin) reddish brown, rounded, crunchy looking things at all of the hive entrances. Egad.

Do you like your SBB in the north, BB?

[beyondthesidewalks]

Moths are already active here in TX if they ever really stopped with this warm winter that wasn't.

[BlueBee]

Well, you know, I do things a little differently than some  :)

My screened bottoms aren't actually open to the outside air.  I basically have a bottom medium box that sits on foam.  On top of that box goes the screened bottom board.  On top of that is the brood box(s).  So the wax cappings, debris, and wax moths just fall out of the brood boxes into a bottom box and not techically "outside".  The bottom box is also insulated so no cold air or drafts ever affects the bottom of the brood box.  The bees brood all the way to the bottom of my frames. 

Because of my unique setup, I really can't comment on rather normal screened BB are good or bad in the north; I don't know.

Luvin, Varroa doesn't sound good  :(

[BlueBee]

Moths are already active here in TX if they ever really stopped with this warm winter that wasn't.

Now that's a bummer!

Up here the adult moths don't survive our winters and new adults normally don't start hatching out of the ground (or where ever they come from) for a couple more months.  However evidently some are wintering in my super insulated hives.  The bees keep it pretty toasty in there all winter long.

[tefer2]

I haven't seen any yet, I'm sure we'll see some soon with this warm weather we are having.

[Francus]

I have seen wax moth larvae since Feburary on the sticky board under my screened bottom board. However, I have not seen any inside on both my inspections so far this year. And now that I have removed the sticky board until fall I imagine the moths won't have a safe place to hide.

[sterling]

Haven't seen waxmoth larva but I've been seeing SHB and their larva in the trays under the SBB since the middle of Feb. That's about six weeks earlier than last year.

[AllenF]

Time to put oil in the traps.

[hardwood]

You mean y'all actually get a break from wax moths every year??

Scott