Well yesterday I finally got around to building an oil trap for a swarm catch. It had a solid bottom and had been there a lot longer than I want to tell. It was a SBB but for swarm purposes I put a piece of plywood underneath it so they wouldn't be hanging on the underside. When I pulled the hive off the first thing I noticed was a ton of bees on the bottom. (that's about the time my wife got popped). Then they started working on my hand. Anyway I looked in the old bottom (when I got away from there) and there were 10-15 wax moths going crazy and just a few small hive beetles.
That explains the number of bees on the bottom screen, they were guarding the nest. So I broke out the ol heating gun and let them have it. Then I let the ants have them. Today it seemed I could notice more activity coming and going from that hive. I guess that freed up the guard bees to forage.
All those pest under that screen on the plywood sure was an ugly sight. Made me sick at my heart to see all that. I was in the hive last Monday. I didn't see any damage but my focus was queen, eggs, and stores.
Topic: Ugly sight (Read 979 times)