# What to do post-wax moth larvae destruction



## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

Knee jerk answer to the wax moth issue is they were left too much space, what surprises me is the shb didn't slime everything first. Not sure what a good overwinter configuration is for your area but in hardiness zone 6b I seldom overwinter on more than a deep and maybe two mediums with a couple sugar bricks. If you have a super with only 2 frames with some honey and nothing else but empty frames, the bees would be better served with the super removed. Do you have a mentor to discuss your overwinter configurations?


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## justinf (May 28, 2017)

Hi, thanks for the reply. I need to brush up on my acronyms...what is shb? There was indeed a ton of slime, perhaps you are right about that. And, the only bit of honey was up in the third super in the middle and none on the side frames, so I bet you are right about the space as well. This will be our first winter, so I will reach out to a local guy that I know as well as the man from whom we got the bees. We are in Charlotte NC so our winters are moderate.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

small hive beetle (shb) The shb make the frames a sticky, slimy mess; the wax moths make them look like Halloween.

During fall and winter the colony size and numbers reduce, I try to shrink the hives to minimize unused space. My understanding of the Russians is they overwinter very conservatively.

The bees will clean up the damaged frames but I try to not hit them with too many at one time or any that are totally "really ugly babies." I wouldn't try to get any cleaning done this year, store the frames and give them back during spring build up. Recommend you at least rough clean what you can off the frames before putting them in a trash bag and freezing for 24-48 hours (freezing kills the eggs/larvae, the trash bag is to prevent any transfer from the frames). Once you remove the frames let them warm to room temp to avoid condensation issues before sealing them in a trash bag for storage. 
Since you have moderate winters I'd also use the freeze and similarly store for any frames you remove from the hive due the potential of eggs in the wax and/or cracks. You can keep the frames in a box for ease of storage but you have to ensure there are no live eggs or larvae anywhere in the box and shb are notorious for laying eggs in cracks and crevices. (ideally you freeze the box too)

Your local guy is a great resource to see how he overwinters.


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## justinf (May 28, 2017)

Ah yes, we have had a few hive beetles here and there but not even close to the problem from the moth larvae. What do you think about moving some frames of brood/honey from the active hive to the weak one? I understand that before moving brood we need to locate the queen in the weak hive.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

I reread your first post, wax moths don't kill bees. What else did you find that can explain what killed the bees? Do you see any deformed wings? How did the open brood look, anything other than pearly white is a concern? Do you check for mites and/or treat?

Equalizing hives is an option but if there is something significantly wrong it could potentially be something close to a lost cause at this time of year. Not saying it is, just need to dig deeper to understand the cause of the dead bees.


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