HELP - Lost Two Hives to Wax Moths

[beecuz]

Today I checked four of my newer hives which were purchased in the spring. It has been about a month since I last opened the hives. Two look healthy but the other two have severe wax moth damage. There are wax moth larvae EVERYWHERE! I removed them from my bee yard and now need to know what to do with them! There are still some bees in them, though not many. Do I just spread the equipment out in the sun and let the bees do what they will? Also, how do I clean up the trays and boxes? Just scrape them down and treat them with the recommended fumigation products? Any advice is much appreciated.

[StevenG]

When you say there are still bees in them, do you mean queen with brood and some workers? Or just workers probably robbing them out? If you have queen and brood, I'd pull all the equipment, clean the boxes thoroughly, then reinstall the frames with brood, being sure there are no wax moths/worms on those frames, and brush all the remaining bees onto the good frames. Reduce hive entrance. Any frames full of honey and pollen not too damaged by wax moth cocoons and webbing I'd put in the freezer to kill the moths, then put back into the hive for the bees. Good luck!
Steven

[PCM]

I don't think you lost the hives to WAX moths, something happened to the hive so they could not defend it from wax moths, then the wax moths took over.

Course I've been wrong before !

PCM

[beecuz]

Thanks, Steven. I did not see any queen or brood in either hive, Looks like robber bees. I've spread out all the frames and boxes in the sun and will wait til the robbers are done (not much in there to steal right now). I don't know why the hives didn't grow like the other two. When I checked them a month ago I noticed there were only capped drone cells and a couple of opened queen cells. I was hoping a virgin queen was out mating and would be back to laying eggs. But, obviously, that didn't happen. I should have checked back the following week and not waited so long. I'll be glad when I retire (in the next few months) so I will be around during the day and better able to monitor my hives. Still new at this and learning. Hard lessons.

Thanks, PCM. You are, of course, right in that it wasn't the wax moths that killed the hive...they were declining already which made them unable to deal with the moths. I plan to clean up the equipment and have it available for when I get up the nerve to do a split. This is a nerve wracking hobby!

I was advised by another beek to just scrape the wood down and clean with a weak solution of clorox and water and that it would be good to go. Do you agree?

[PCM]

I was advised by another beek to just scrape the wood down and clean with a weak solution of clorox and water and that it would be good to go. Do you agree?

Get what wax off the box's you can, Scrape the frames extra good, dip in bleach, Then if possible freeze the frames for 24 hours.
The wax eggs will generally be on the frames, they are not really per-say eating the wax they are eating the residue and pollen of the hive.

Good Luck
Of Course I've been wrong before

PCM

[Michael Bush]

This the problem:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeswaxmoths.htm#Cause

Actions to take:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeswaxmoths.htm#Infested

[Batman]

I hate wax moths! They ate everything at my dads house after 25 hives died off. I think someone sprayed them, but have no proof, but how else do you lose 25 strong health colonies and find tons of dead bees?
I also lost 2 supers at my dads house recently. They were wrapped in plastic and stored, my dad called me up 2 weeks ago and said he had a puddle of honey in the garage, he thought the hives bodies must have gotten too warm and melted the wax. When I got to his place and saw all the cocoons and larva, I told him it wasn't the heat, it was my mistake for leaving the supers alone too long. Mistakes happen, I guess all the overtime I was working had another price I had to pay other than a shortage of sleep.

C2