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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>
  • To: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ocba] Wax Moths
  • Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 19:55:29 -0400

OK, tell me about wax moths. I started with 2 nucs at the end of May. One
colony is going great. The other seems weak to me by comparison. I have been
feeding both colonies using internal tank feeders housed in a medium super
above the deep brood chamber. As the colonies drew out the comb in the
initial brood chambers, I added a second deep upper chamber to each hive. The
comb in the upper chamber of the weak hive remains only partially drawn out -
4 of the 10 frames. Based on Lewis' posts I have little hope that the fall
nectar flow will encourage the bees to draw out the remaining 6 frames. The
strong hive has drawn out all frames in both brood chambers.

When I refilled the feeder for the weak hive this past weekend I noticed 2
wax moths scurrying around in the feeder box - i.e. the medium super above
the upper brood chamber. First time I've seen a living wax moth - ever.

I snuffed both of the moths and thought nothing more about until a fellow
novice beekeeper said, "I would be concerned about actually seeing wax moths
in the hive. In my novice brain I associate that with more serious colony
viability problems, beyond being greeted by a handful of small hive beetles.
But I may just be alarmist. I have never seen them in a hive." Good point! It
then occurred to me that since this was my first experience with wax moths I
should seek the guidance of the more experienced OCBA beekeepers.

My questions are:
1) Is the appearance of wax moths in a feeder box necessarily a scary event?
2) If the bees don't draw out the comb in the upper brood chamber during the
fall nectar flow can they survive the winter on the stores in the lower brood
chamber only? Those stores appear to be equivalent to the strong colony's
stores in their lower brood chamber.
3) If the stores in the lower chamber are too sparse to allow overwintering,
will supplemental feeding throughout the winter be sufficient or do I need to
combine the hives sometime this fall - and if so, when?

Since I've been doing the invasive new beekeeper 'let's check the hives'
dance all summer I was hoping to leave both colonies alone during the fall
nectar flow. My varroa counts are below the treatment threshold, so I was
hopeful that the bees would sort food stores out by themselves before winter
sets in.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

-John

John Rintoul
Mobile (919) 414-4071
Home (919) 967-0674

"The failure of one thing (is) repaired by the success of another." - Thomas
Jefferson



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