# Can I add a frame of honey with possible wax moth contamination to a healthy hive?



## Beth Girdler (Jan 9, 2015)

Can a hive with a healthy population handle wax moths? 
I have 17 hives. I saved two deep supers of capped honey in case any of my splits needed a boost. As it turns out three did not fill their second brood box (only 3/4 of the frames in the top box had honey) The weather is getting colder here so I used my reserve frames to replace any half filled, uncapped frames. I merrily stocked up all three hives but it was not until I got to the final hive and the last two frames that I discovered a wax moth cocoon at the top of the frame on one, and a wax moth larva at the bottom of the last frame - both of which I crushed.
I went back through each hive and saw no further signs of moths or webs on any of the introduced frames. I would like to think that the bees would be able to detect and clean up any wax moth larva I missed. Each of those three hives has enough bees to cover the frames in both boxes.
Should I be worried? Should I remove all the frames and freeze them? 
Thanks for any help,
Beth


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

if it were me i would go ahead and freeze the frames first if for nothing else just the peace of mind.


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## Beth Girdler (Jan 9, 2015)

The problem is, I already put them in the hives yesterday. I was thinking that I could just replace the two frames I found moth "evidence" on with frames I put in the freezer over night.
Otherwise, I would have to shake all the bees down into the bottom boxes of each of the three hives and freeze the whole upper boxes because, other than those final two frames I would have a hard time telling which frame was theirs and which came from my reserve. What a mess! Wish I had frozen them ahead of time!


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

in that case i woudn't worry about it, as you mentioned a strong colony should be able to deal with it alright.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

+1

Since they are already on the hive I would not worry about them, a few wax moths will not be a problem for a strong hive, they will remove any egg and keep the ones there at bay. Even a strong hive may have a wax moth.

It's beetles I worry about. Moths are not much of a threat to a hive.


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## Beth Girdler (Jan 9, 2015)

Thank you! That was my initial thought when I came to the last two frames, that the bees could handle it, but then, today I began second guessing myself!


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## Beth Girdler (Jan 9, 2015)

Thank goodness there are no hive beetles here - yet!


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

I've often put wax moth infested frames and even heavily infested brood chambers on top of a strong colony for cleanup. About 15 minutes after putting them on, the bees will go into a buzzing frenzy and wax moth larvae will come rolling out the entrance as they try to escape the bees. This was not always the case. 40 years ago, the german black bees would tolerate wax moths. Italians won't.


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## Beth Girdler (Jan 9, 2015)

Fusion_power said:


> I've often put wax moth infested frames and even heavily infested brood chambers on top of a strong colony for cleanup. About 15 minutes after putting them on, the bees will go into a buzzing frenzy and wax moth larvae will come rolling out the entrance as they try to escape the bees. This was not always the case. 40 years ago, the german black bees would tolerate wax moths. Italians won't.


Thanks! Good to know!
I really feel that the bee population in each hive is enough to handle any larva I might have missed.


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