# Wax Moth Larvae?



## Hedghawg (Apr 25, 2016)

Is this the dreaded wax moth larvae?
Are the black dots wax moth frass?
Did the bees expel it and it wiggled through the screen only to die?
Why was there water on the board? (It did rain a lot the last couple of days, but I only have about a 1" opening in front.)
Is there something I can do other than hope they will expel whatever is in there?

It's going to get really cold here tonight in central Virginia and chilly the next couple of days or I'd open it up. The hive is strong and I saw no sign of moth's two weeks ago.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

When the hive is in cluster mode with too much empty comb space then the 
wax moths will do lots of damage to the drawn comb. We have this issue in a mild 
winter environment. So before winter sets in I just condensed the hive down and took out
all the empty drawn frames for storage. Then I heat up the hive with the small heat pads. This
way the bees can patrol the remainder of the comb with hive temp around 70-80F inside. Without the
supplement heat the 2 deep nuc hive full of drawn comb will be damage by the wax moth alright. 

On rainy days I will put a cheap blue trap over the hive and elevate the back of the hive box with a 
piece of small wood strip. This way the rain water cannot get in. And reduced the hive entrance to one 
bee space to conserve heat and also keep any mouse out. With that many comb bits I think you might have
a small mouse inside so reduce the hive entrance to stop the mouse and rains.


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## John Davis (Apr 29, 2014)

1 yes
2 yes
You are correct it has rained a lot depending on your bottom board it could have run in from the front under the board and the insert. Or the hive may have settled and have a downward slope to the back. Should be slightly sloped forward, an 1/8 inch high is plenty, too much makes jar feeders leak.
Many boards make a protected area between the screen and the insert that the bees can't get to to clean. Often you will see wax moths or small hive beetle larvae in the protected areas. Too cold for SHB to be laying eggs now.
There are also some mites on the board.

Take a deep breath and don't panic.
PM me with a number if you want to talk through what you see.


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## Hedghawg (Apr 25, 2016)

Looks like Thursday is going to be the best day for going into the hive (61 daytime high 41 low). I've got a new varrox vaporizer I'm itching to use too. I thought for sure the tiny entrance I made would be enough but I'm ordering a mouse guard tonight. I didn't used to have a water problem but as I look at the hive it may be leaning back a little since I rearranged the cinder blocks a couple weeks ago. I don't normally have the bottom board inserted but since it's going to be in the 20's this week I thought I would.


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