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Author Topic: For the moths it was apocalypse...  (Read 2674 times)

Offline BEE C

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For the moths it was apocalypse...
« on: April 19, 2006, 05:15:36 am »
Hey, I finally met my neighbour lady who retired out here in the sticks and she had some really neat ideas about pest control.  Our neighbourhood is basically coastal temperate rainforest, lots of cedar, douglas fir, maples, wild cherries, alder and spruce.  We are both about one mile from a large lake which is fed by smaller glacial lakes.  We are about a thousand feet above sea level.  I don't know what they are called but we get a lot of small white moths in late summer, particularly last year due to one of the worst drought seasons ever.  We also are having a real bad time with beetles, pine beetles up north but a lot of pests you get the drift.  Woodpeckers are everywhere doing their part to clean out old deadhead trees, but still the moths are like rain in August if the weather is dry and hot for the month of august.  My old hippy neighbour says that she had a problem with moths and beetles so she installed bat roosting houses all along the perimeter of her property.  Apparently, and I checked this out with the so called experts, bats eat upwards of a thousand bugs a night!  She said that since shes had bats take up residence in the roosts her problems with moths and even beetles in her hives has become nil.  She said its the perfect solution, no pesticides, and as bats are night prowlers there is no threat to her bees!  I started to build a roost off of plans I downloaded.  Has anyone down south heard of this?  Some of ya have mentioned moth problems...

Offline Jack Parr

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Where are you ?
« Reply #1 on: April 19, 2006, 05:42:59 am »
You should put your location in your profile, unless you are in shame of where you live then going incognito is OK. :P

Quite interesting and tell us more. Like how did the Old Hippy Lady entice the Bats into the houses??? How are the houses built? How high above ground are they set up?

We used to have an abundance of bats years ago where I live, but now that the subject is in the forefront, come to think, I don't see them anymore.

Offline TwT

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For the moths it was apocalypse...
« Reply #2 on: April 19, 2006, 08:33:03 am »
that's cool if it works for her,,, the main problem when moth's move in is a weak hive or the hive has too much room that not enough bee's can keep them out. if you have a 2 deep hive and not enough bee's to fill this hive then remove the top deep and shake the bees from it to the bottom deep the store the top deep until your population is enough to put it back on..not knowing were you live but it sounds cold, your bee's will cluster allot and if you have to much room they can't protect the whole hive, plus it would help your bee's if you keep the hive as small as you can until they get going good, takes allot more bee's to heat a large area than a smaller one... hope something I wrote helps...
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
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Offline Michael Bush

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For the moths it was apocalypse...
« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2006, 08:51:35 am »
Bats fly at night.  Bees fly in the day.  They get along fine.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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Offline TREBOR

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For the moths it was apocalypse...
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2006, 09:37:07 am »
Hi all,
 
Quote
Like how did the Old Hippy Lady entice the Bats into the houses???
you can find that info on the net, but they are kind of like a bird house and have several vert. boards inside w/saw cuts about 1/2 inch apart (something for them to hang from) it seems that if you put them up that the bats will find them.........if they like them they will stay....
 
Quote
We used to have an abundance of bats years ago where I live, but now that the subject is in the forefront, come to think, I don't see them anymore.

 bats find a place to feed then they go back every night, when the food is gone so are the bats.......so as my old neighbour says if we all put up those yellow porch lights to keep the bugs away then well......no bats!
 so what he did was put a yellow light on his porch, then about 100ft from the house he put a big light the bugs love. wellll the bats came and they keep coming and the bugs all get drawn away from the house.......
 if it was up to his wife, she would have him use chemicals so there are no bugs........Jack just a ?, have you guys seen an increase in wives :lol:

Offline Jack Parr

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INCREASEED WIVES
« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2006, 07:03:30 am »
Gooood question  :!:

Can't say that there is an increase in wives per say, not Utah here, but an increase in WIFE SIZE, then yes.  I don't go to Mac D's anymore. Why? Well the increased wife size darn near blocks out the upper light and the rug rats takes up the lower space sooo... :cry:

But that is interesting,  about the bats that is, and yes, I could have done some net reasearch but I also like to kibbitz. However I now will launch myself into a batty net search since I was called to order :P  And a bat house abuilding we will go... :lol:

Actually the question was about wax moths and bees, wasn't it :?: If one was inclined to do so, actually GROWING wax moths and their larvii could be a good sideline. The worms make excellent fishing bait.  From my small experience with the moths and my attempts to store old comb, they are really easy to to get going. Just put some comb someplace out of the sunlight and voila, a wax moth farm. I am going to do it :!:

Offline TREBOR

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For the moths it was apocalypse...
« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2006, 04:22:11 pm »
lol good luck with wax moth farming :lol: