Wax moth

[sean]

Hi. I have been noticing that one of my hives has been very weak .I went inthis morning and realized that i seem to have wax moths in there. I removed a super i had on it so its down to 1 box and put in 2 frames of brood. i now have 7 full frames and 2 empty frames(box may have been constructed badly it can only hold 9 frames). what more do i need to do

Secondly the frames i removed were not drawn out. they only had 1/2 foundation which was chewed up on some frames. can i reuse the frames that appear ok. what do i do with the frames that have been chewed up? do i cut off what i can and boil it down?   

[amymcg]

if by chewed up you mean wax moth webbings and damage, then you can freeze the frames for a couple of days, then take them out and scrape off the webbings. If they are heavily damaged, then you can just cut out the damage after freezing. Freezing will kill the eggs that might be in the frame.

[Michael Bush]

>what more do i need to do

I'd reduce them down to just the frames they can cover.  If that requires building a smaller box, then that's what I'd do.

>what do i do with the frames that have been chewed up? do i cut off what i can and boil it down?   

First, I would cut out all the baddly webbed parts and leave the rest for the bees to fix.  If the whole comb is webbed, then cut the whole thing out.

[mick]

Dont fogret to hang the wax moth trap in a tree!

[sean]

its me again. took another look at the infested hive today i also have shb in the colony. was in the process of digging off some infested comb when i noticed them.

[sean]

Dont fogret to hang the wax moth trap in a tree!

don't think we have any of those out here. I will have to check or see if its something i can make up myself

[Michael Bush]

http://www.beeworks.com/informationcentre/wax_moth.html

Wax moth traps.

[sean]

http://www.beeworks.com/informationcentre/wax_moth.html

Wax moth traps.

Thanks i will be making one shortly. I went back to the hive today. changed the box and cover incidentaly the cover wasn't fitting the original box properly, took out all the empty frames/comb, sprinkled some ants powder around that position and the one next to it(SHB) and exchanged the position of that colony with a stronger one.

i have some frames from the infected hive that are still more less intact a hole here and there and ragged edges. can they be reused just like that or should i freeze them first.

[Michael Bush]

I would freeze them first because there are bound to be worms and eggs that you don't see.  I would remove anything that looks webbed at lest more than just one tunnel running through it.  The bees have a lot of difficulty removing the webs.  They have no difficulty drawing new comb to fill the holes.

[sean]

just an update. visited the hive today and the hive is looking andsounding much better. the hive i swapped position was kinda quiet not much activity but i suspect that is to be expected.unfortunately sombody lit a fire and burnt down a lot of the vegetation between monday and tuesday thankfully it stopped about 20 yards away from my hives.

[Kirk-o]

Well thats good to hear things are looking up keep us posted
kirko

[sean]

Aah, I wish that were so. Took the liberty of going through all the hives  and found about 6 more SHBs managed to kill 5 of them 1 flew away(didn't know the buggers could fly). the boxes i found them in are quite strong. Called my extensiion officer and ws told not to worry. I am going to build some traps though so i am going to look at a sample on friday. I actually saw it before but i don't remember everything about it. i do recall it uses some pvc pipe with a slot cut into it and oil(i think)