disaster in the hive!!!!!!!!!!absolute carnage AKA recovering from waxmoth

[mick]

OK Im a bad bad bad boy.

In 3 weeks my hive has become riddled with grubs or wax moth of gargantuam proportions! Wood lice and cockroaches.

The bottom box is dead.

The middle box is riddled with grubs the size of my little finger. Veery few bees, no eggs no queen.

Top box is mainly clear but no queen, hardly any bees and no eggs.

Ive done the best I can to recover from the disaster.

We will see what happens.

[Michael Bush]

They colony has dwindled too small to care for the size of hive they had.

[mick]

Yep I made my move a month too late.

[pdmattox]

Definately wax moth.  Good news though, these frames are salvageable for i have seen worse and the bees will clean it up and reuse it. Place those frames where the sun can hit them and the wax moths will be no more. Or you can take the frames and freeze them untill you are ready to use them again.  Hope they left enough resources for you to restart with.

[tillie]

What a mess, Mick - so sorry - is that your only hive?  I hope you can get it going again......

Linda T in Atlanta

[mick]

I have caled on the Traceys from Internation Rescue AKA The Thunderbirds.

There could be a queen under the new hive as there is a bunch of bees under the pallet.

[Moonshae]

I'm so sorry to see that. I wish I had more to offer, but I think that's best left to the experienced folk. :(

[mick]

Ok its Amazing how 2 beers and mother nature can change your outlook on life so quickly.

I went back in, no smoke, no gear on and got no stings. The ball under the pallet had gone, however I couldnt spot a queen in the hive. There is a distinct clump in the hive of 100-200 or so that are very interested in something, but if its a queen, it must be a new one and small.

I found 3 more grubs and actually spotted one of the bastard moths. Killed all of em. GRRRRRRRRRRR.

I also watched as a grub was trying to get back in the new hive and the bees were fighting to kick it out. It was a tussle that the bees won.

I think I can recover from this if the weather is kind.

Ok the plan is tomorrow I wil reduce from 2 boxex to 1 box, 3 frames of capped honey either side and two drawn empty frames in the middle.

Set wax moth traps and CHECK THE HIVE ONCE A WEEK!

There is enough honey and drawn cells on frames I had put away to keep things going!

[Kathyp]

you have been missing.  did you go in holiday??  getting some rain now that it's coming on winter?

[mick]

Nah Cathy, just slack.

I have a hundred or so feeding on the frames sitting in the sun and lots of traffic to and from the hive.

It seems I have caught things in time. I am confident that things will be OK.

Thanks to Dallas for his advice.

I was waiting for the frames to go from 70% capped a few weeks ago to 90% so I could remove them. That was my mistake, I waited too long. It was around this time last year that I detected some wax moth.

I have lost my honey harvest, but thems the breaks!

[buzzbee]

Sorry to hear about your luck Mick.
Just be sure to savor the honey harvested until now!Hope things get off to a good start!

[Mici]

if it doesn't hurt a lesson isn't learned! :-D

[mick]

Today I went back in and knocked the hive down to one box. 3 frames of capped honey at either end and 2 drawn frames inthe middle. I found a few more grubs and got rid of them.

I sealed the lid good and tight with tape and reduced the entrance 2/3rds with a stick. There were about a couple of hundred small bees in the hive, I could not see a queen.

I continued turning the frames in the sun in the backyard that I had removed from the mess,, and have placed the best three in the freezer. I will freeze all of them in the next few days and seal them up in a bag while I ponder.

One surprising thing is I have attracted hundreds of bees form "over yonder" to the frames in the sun, so I have hidden most in the shed for the time being.

I havent noticed this many bees coming from this direction ever before. I am now thinking there is another hive nearby which I must find, or infact my hive swarmed due to the overwhelming moth problem and is living in a tree somewhere. I will go looking later on.

I also made 4 wax moth traps to surround my hive in a ring of steel!

Im also thinking of making up another box with some hiney in it and using it as a trap, but it might get robbed out.

I have to be careful that the "other" bees do not overwhelm my weak hive and pinch all the honey from it.

What do you all think of my plans?

[mick]

Well all very interesting. I made up a box for the robbers and it had little traffic this afternoon.

The hive however was receiving 20 bees per minute. None seem to have had pollen on them, but they were all adult bees.

Every 5 minutes there would be a wrestle with one bee being pushed out of the entrance onto the ground where the struggle continued. Also every 5 minutes or so one would appear at the entrance, facing into the darkness and wave its but in the air and fan its wings vigourously for a couple of minutes then go back inside.

No bees seemed to be leaving the hive, some would crawl out and up the face then back in again. All the bees I saw were adults, not the babies that I had left yesterday. Bees were visible behind the vents, crawling around and
communicating with those on the outside.

To me its obvious that what I had left were the ones that had hatched after the mob had absconded due to the moths.

As night falls, I have that comforting buzz from a few feet from the hive. If I put my ear up to the vent, it sounds like a couple of thousand. Last night in comparison, there was no noise as a couple of  hundred huddled together in a corner.

So I may have pulled it off.  My bees could have returned or maybe I have a couple of thousand robbers just staying overnight?

Either way, its a lot more promising than this time yesterday!


CALLING BEES HOIME AT THE ENTRANCE


NORMAL COMING AND GOING

STRUGGLING

GET OUT

GET OUT I SAID

FIGHT TO THE DEATH!

[mick]

Left for work before dawn amd got home at dusk so not much of a chance to see anything.

A few bees entering the hive, none leaving, no pollen spotted. I reckon if and when I spot pollen going in I am in business.

Some buzzing audible from the vent, but to late in the day for then to be fanning etc.

Im going to resist the temptation of lifting the cover until saturday.

Not much action re the bait hive.

[Cindi]

Mick!!!  Holy crow, what an event.  I am sorry to hear of the demise, but things will work out.  You are doing everything that you can, and that is good for you, yeah!!!  I never dreamed that wax moth could be such a devastation to a colony.  Your experience has given us some very good insight on the importance to keep an eye on things, especially when the moth wax (and other hive devastators) are prevelent.  Have a wonderful day, Mick, keep working hard with your colony, things will turn out good for you.  Beautiful life, live it and love it.  Cindi

[mick]

Its all very intersting, I just waited too long or the frames to go to 90% capped. I should have removed them instead of being pedantic.

I see it as a good learning experience more than anything. After all they are just bees to me and I have 50kg of honey in the cupboard as it is.

If these dont recover (if they do I will have a new queen which is good) I just buy some more for a few bucks.

Thats one good thing, bees dont cost a lot to buy and as you know, build up very quickly.

Now if this had happened mid summer, then I would be peedoff.

[mick]

I still have traffic to and from the hive, but no pollen to be seen.

There is a comforting buzz from up in the top left corner, where I know my babies are, however we have had a savage cold snap, gone from 23c to 8c, but theres nothing I can do about that. The entrance is reduced and the top is taped shut reall good. Only another day to go before I can get in there and have a look.

[Cindi]

Mick, I assume now that we are heading into summer you are heading the same way but into winter.  That still sends my head swimming.

Good you hear that soft hum, means that things are content.  8c is getting quite cool, especially when you go from the 20sC.  Have a great day, love the life your livin'.  Cindi

Wanna send me some wax still?

[mick]

Just pm me your addy and wax will appear!