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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Elisabeth Curtis <granda.curtis AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: Orange County Bees <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] wax moth disaster
  • Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:08:44 -0400

Great pics, Elisabeth.

SHB larvae are tan, like these. Wax moth larvae are grey-ish. Wax moth larvae move like inch worms (they have feet all along their bodies like caterpillars). SHB larvae move like slugs (dragging their hindparts along). These sure look like SHB larvae, and lots of them. These frames are goners. I wouldn't use Check-Mite -- it is way too late for anything like that and the cure may be worse than the original problem. I would shake any remaining bees in front of your good hives, set the frames in the open in air and sunlight for a day and let the bees rob out any remaining honey. If the combs aren't totally ruined, freeze them and reuse them later.

Chalk this one up to bad luck and put the experience in your bag of tricks for next time.

Randall Austin

On 6/16/2013 8:07 PM, Elisabeth Curtis 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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