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Chronological Thread  
  • From: chloe palenchar <cpalenchar AT hotmail.com>
  • To: <robert AT thenews-journal.com>, <granda.curtis AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] wax moth disaster
  • Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 17:20:24 +0000

I'm a fairly new beekeeper, do take my answer for what it's worth.

I don't think you need to worry about destroying the wax. Basically, you need to make the environment less friendly for the pests, so they don't do more damage. But there's nothing harmful in the wax that a strong hive can't fix later. Basically sun is the enemy of beetle and mouth larva- bee hives are dark. So just expose the frames to the sun and you'll mostly halt the damage. Freezing also kills stuff. Lewis once told me he just sets his hives, with frames in them, on their side outdoors. That's enough light to keep the worst pests at bay, and keeps the frames from getting too wet in the rain.

-chloe


From: robert AT thenews-journal.com
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:54:18 -0400
To: granda.curtis AT gmail.com
CC: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [ocba] wax moth disaster

I do remember seeing on Tuesday a much larger larva so I'd bet you're right. Doesn't really matter, though, does it? We still have to destroy the wax, don't we?


On Jun 16, 2013, at 8:07 PM, Elisabeth Curtis <granda.curtis AT gmail.com> wrote:

Investigating further, I am questioning my diagnosis. Those little critters look more and more like SHB larvae, 'though we have seen very few of the adults in any of our hives. I have had little experience with either larvae. What do these look like to y'all? Up close, I do not see the pro-legs in pairs along the body that wax moth larvae are supposed to have, but they are still very small so maybe it's hard to tell. Whatever it is, it's a mess. The only treatment I have read about is Coumaphos (Check-Mite), which I doubt we would use, and destruction of the hives. 


On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 10:56 AM, Elisabeth Curtis <granda.curtis AT gmail.com> wrote:
Yikes. From 5 healthy hives we have gone to one hive bursting with bees but no brood,  three queenless hives totally infested with wax moth larvae, and one hive still uninfested but with dwindling population and no evidence of a queen.
What to do? There's lots of robbing going on. Should we just open the infested hives and let them be robbed out? Can the comb be salvaged this way or is there another way?  We'd be grateful for any advice. -ElisabethThanks.  

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