Found Wax Worms in one of my hives

[Jester]

I opened one of my swam hives yeterday and found wax worm poo on the top center frame. Killed three little ones about 3/4 of an inch long. This hive does have plasticell foundation. I didn't have the smoker going so I only pulled a few frames to look around. I plan on re-inspecting but I havent encountered this before.

What should I do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Josh Carmack]

SHB worm, or Wax worm? 3/4 inch sounds like SHB. Either way, give the bees a hand, and mechanically remove them. IE take them out by hand, I like to toss them on the hood of my truck, it's nice and toasty due to it's dark color, and the engine heat. Makes them feel welcome and toasty for about 1/2 a second, after that its all over

[fish_stix]

If the hive is strong don't do anything! The bees are able to keep wax moths in check if strong. If weak, make them strong by adding a couple frames of capped brood with the nurse bees on the frames. :)

[Ross]

You may need to reduce the hive size to give the bees a hand. The bees need to fully occupy the space to control invaders. Being a little crowded can be a good thing unless there is a really good flow on.

[Jester]

Josh,
I've never had experience with shb (I am assuming small hive beetle). Can thier larva be as destructive as wax worms?


Fish,
The hive is a swarm I caught this spring. They seem strong they have almost fulled two hive bodies. They still have a couple frame on each sides of the second hive body.

Ross,
Good idea but they only have 2 hive bodies, no supers. I want them to fill that space out, hoping to get them through winter.

I guess I'll get back in there and try to remove what I can by hand and plan for a periodic inpection?

Thanks,
Greg

[Ross]

Giving them more space will not make them expand if they don't have enough bees. There is a reason we start nucs and splits in smaller boxes. Until bees reach a certain density, they just won't thrive. That may not be your problem, but too much space doesn't help.

[wcubed]

With wood frames, the colony puts very little comb in the interbar space (The gap between the lower top bar and the next higher bottom bar), when accurate beespace is maintained. But plastic seems to encourage wax accumulation in the interbar space, even with regulation bee space.

My guess is that wax in the edges of the top bar afforded a protective space for the larvae you saw. That often happens when the space is too small for the bees to roust them overboard. Not a big problem - the larva have to come out of there sooner or later. The larger larva can't escape detection by the bees, and will be delt with at that time.

Relax and enjoy.

Walt W.

[jdpro5010]

They are larvae not worms. If it is shb treat! If it is was moth they have too much space. First step would be to identify what you have. If you don't know for sure ask somebody who will to have a look.