On February 15th, 2000. Colder than average Winter Temperatures and more than a foot of snow over a three day period, left my hive covered and cold.  I found the only box to have live bees was the small 5 framed nuc on the lower right of this photo. About 10,000 workers and a healthy queen. 

The center box was filled with Wax Worm and wax worm larva. Also pounds of worthless silk where healthy wax and honey were a few months earlier. These Wax Worms drove the honeybee from this home, obviously because the colony was weak.

Hind sight reminds me that in early October, I notice a swarm. This is rather unusual in the Eastern United States so late in the Season. I had only seen the end of the swarm, after the bees had landed on a temporary branch, just outside my view. I couldn't image a queen producing enough workers to warrant a swarm in October. 

I really shrugged this off and shouldn't have. If I was aware of Wax Moth in this colony, I could have taken methods to find this refugee band of bees a new home. Even as important, I could have salvaged about 80 pounds of honey which that hive had in Mid September. The easiest way to prevent Wax Moth is to keep strong, healthy colonies. I was more concerned with producing swarms and due to family matters, my bee yard had been poorly managed at seasons end.
 

Look here. You are looking through a Frame which was filled with honey only a few months ago. Now the wax is gone, as is the honey and all the bees. This is common with Wax Moths IF the colony is not strong enough to fight the Wax Moth off. Normal wax to the left, totally eaten and destroyed by the wax moth in the middle. The honey and wax was consumed and ( to the right ) you'll see dead moth larva in the silk which they spin throughout this hive.  The Silk is worthless and the hive was devastated by the Wax Moth. The moths die when exposed to very cold temperatures for several days. I can't say that I'll miss them.

Here is a close-up of the WAX MOTH LARVA on top of these frames. Notice the silk casings and the mess they leave behind.  This was a healthy hive over the Summer, then one day - all the bees just flew off in early October. The wax moths had probably won this hive because the bee colony was weak in number, possibly lacking a queen.  After the destruction of the Wax Moth, there was really nothing to save throughout this entire colony.  This was a bad Winter all around my Apiary. Check my beekeeping log for further details concerning my bee yard as time goes on.