Sacrificial Hive for Wax Moth

[beemaster]

As many of you know, I had one hive going into Winter and it didn't make it. I have cleaned all frames of burr comb, weighed all frames and cleaned all hive bodies and stuff - sealing the box for a short while with two outer covers, one on top and one on bottom.

My other hive, which absconded in September showed no signs of wax moth THEN (I really looked everywhere in the hive and I made the error of leaving the hive open HOPING a swarm might move in (there was some stores left after all). Well, today I opened that hive up for the first time and was shocked at the amount of wax moth larva, inch thick like a blanket filling the inner cover and almost 2 inches of COMPOST at the bottom of the hive - wow! What destruction, all comb was gone off the plastic foundation.

QUESTION: does anyone use an old hive with worn frames and old foundation with bits of honey or whatever as a SACRIFICIAL HIVE to lure wax moth from other hives in your yard or do you think this is crazy?

I can see both sides of this issue and I seem to lean toward the sacrificial IF wax-moth is an issue - at least they have a place to easily habitat where they aren't hurting anything and can be removed and controlled as needed.

Any ideas - thanks.

[Jerrymac]

Is this something you just came up with? I never heard of it. Here are my thoughts. The moth will go into any weak hive even if there is a luxury home sitting there for them. Then if they do move into the fancy mansion and you do nothing to them, they will just produce a bunch of young ones to invade your other hives.

[LET-CA]

It sounds like offering up one home in a neighborhood to smallpox!  Since you can't control the spread of the moth's why would you want to provide a safe haven close to your other equipment.  I've had the sad experience of finding empty hives full of their garbage too.  I scraped up the boxes, but tossed the frames.  I was able to make a big buy of Mann Lake frames for $.25 each so I decided that I wasn't willing to spend all my time scraping up their leavings.  Anyway, that's my two cents worth.  All the best.

[beemaster]

Jerry:

My idea is to not let them just breed there, but to use that hive as a lure and remove the infestation regularly, hopefully reducing threat to hives nearby, not (as Dallas said) bring Small-Pox to my Neighborhood.

We use Sacrificial RODS in water heaters to get ate away rather than the tank, that was my inspiration for my idea. I'm really wondering if anyone has tried this method, using old and discard-able frames to lure wax moth and then kill them off as the cleansing period arises.

[Robo]

QUESTION: does anyone use an old hive with worn frames and old foundation with bits of honey or whatever as a SACRIFICIAL HIVE to lure wax moth from other hives in your yard or do you think this is crazy?

Not something I would try.   Similar analogies would be.

1.  Leave an untreated sacrificial hive for varroa in your bee yard
2.  Leave an untreated sacrificial hive for small hive bettles in your bee yard

I don't think it will lure them away from your other hives.  Just increase the population right near your hives :shock:

[Robo]

We use Sacrificial RODS in water heaters to get ate away rather than the tank, that was my inspiration for my idea.

Yes, but there is a set amount of current doing the corrosion, and by adding rods you are just directing it, not multiplying it.

[tig]

i tried that but it was a disaster.  the wax moth rapidly multiplied in the old hive and quickly invaded the other hives.  once they had all the combs destroyed, and i mean disintigrated where it leaves a black powdery debris with no wax left, once the larva hatched, they left and looked for other hives.  my entomologist friend told me i was just breeding more wax moths this way lol.

[beemaster]

Thanks for the GREAT answers - I see the logic, shame though it couldn't work as I had hoped.

[empilolo]

I agree with such a hive serving as a breedingcenter for moths, increasing pressure on healthy hives from a larger moth population.

Has anybody tried a wax moth trap ?

[Mici]

bees love to use old equipment, as such, old hives, places which have been populated by bees. what is a better sign of Previous inhabitation of bees than wax moths?
my menthor told me that the best lure for swarms is an onld comb, than he added preferably a little "mothy" so...out of that 10 (or how many have you got) frames you can make a bunch of lures! in combination with lemon grass oil they should work 99%!

[Michael Bush]

>or do you think this is crazy?

You'll just end up with MORE wax moths...