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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>, Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Wax Moths
  • Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 20:48:54 -0400

John,

A few adult wax moths in the hive aren't anything to worry about at all. Like with small hive beetles (SHB), the adults aren't the problem anyway --- it is the larvae that foretell impending doom. If you see greyish-white (or is it whitish-grey?) grubs, you've got a wax moth issue. And like SHB, wax moth larvae are a sign that the undertaker is at the door, but they aren't the root cause of the problem. Weakness caused by disease (especially varroa-borne viruses), late swarming, a poor queen, etc. push the hive over the cliff and wax moths come in to finish off what's left.

For your other questions:
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?
Try it and see. Monitor frequently (via the lift test) and plan to feed often as/if needed, until next April.

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?
See above. But if your hive hasn't drawn out the comb because they are a bunch of lazy slackers, and there aren't a whole lot of them anyway, then that's a great candidate for combining. Would you keep a dog that does nothing but pee on the carpet, bite the kids and howl all night? Combine to give a boost to your good hive, then make a split in the spring to get back to 2 hives again.

The article here may have some other useful tips for you regarding preparing for winter.

Randall Austin

On 9/9/2014 7:55 PM, John Rintoul wrote:
8B78114E-9B05-4C2A-A296-DECE12CAF5C3 AT icloud.com" type="cite">
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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  • [ocba] Wax Moths, John Rintoul, 09/09/2014
    • Re: [ocba] Wax Moths, Randall Austin, 09/09/2014

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