# Wax Moth Larva?



## JohnV (Jul 8, 2017)

Hi again everyone, 
I am hoping someone can help me understand what I am looking at in these pictures. I am wondering if I have a wax moth problem in my hive.
And is the dark brown under the honey normal? 
If this is wax moth larva is there something you can recommend I do to take care of the problem or should I just leave the bees to take care of them?
Thank you very much for your help. It is greatly appreciated. 
John


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

Brood comb becomes dark brown to almost black. Both shb and wax moth larvae are worm/maggot looking and bore through the comb.

Not much of a brood pattern, maybe some of the capped brood flat and the open brood in the second picture has a "melted" look which would first lead me to suspect Patristic Mite Syndrome. Do you know your mite count and are you seeing any deformed wings?


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

that looks like deflated bee larvae. Not a good thing. How is the bee population in that hive? booming or not so much?


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## JohnV (Jul 8, 2017)

Bee population is not booming. The hive swarmed about six weeks ago. No, I haven't noticed any deformed wings. 
Thank you both very much for your help.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

John,
The melted/deflated larvae appears to be an indicator of a larger problem. Recommend you get some local expertise to further evaluate it.


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## eltalia (Jun 12, 2017)

JohnV said:


> Bee population is not booming. The hive swarmed about six weeks ago.


Nicely formed combs you have there John, a sure sign of a well active colony, moreso if the combs shown came from the extents of the broodnest.
Are you able to confirm the location in the broodnest of the examples?

Six weeks is a long time from an active lay across the broodnest to today, so are you seeing the same level of bee activity continuing on those frames at each inspection since? 
What I am seeing is term pupae hatched and at work, somewhere... with those near term and not cared for dying, well dead actually. The exposed larvae still present being deceased larvae from that period. The post swarm numbers of housekeepers insufficient to do hygiene cleansing of the dead material.
Have a look (closely) at some dead larvae to see if there is any
blackish grey markings on tbem.


Bill


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## trishbookworm (Jun 25, 2016)

The brood pattern tells you a lot about the health of the hive - not just the queen. When a few brood are present like that, they may not have been incubated properly due to a weak hive - and they may have died in their broodcell. And like someone posted, hive is too weak to do housecleaning. 

Brood should look pretty solid, not shot-gunned looking. If not, the reason needs to be found.

If you do not have at least 3-4 bars highly covered in bees - you have a very weak hive. And possibly no queen. If this is your only hive, then the possibility it may not survive is something to consider. And what happens next is something to think about. You'll want to protect a weak hive from being colonized by wax moth - but the wax moth will be killed if the hive dies and experiences a hard freeze.

If you have honey/nectar stores, you need to protect them from robbing. A screen over the entrance, so the bees have to go in the sides of the screen, is a nice option. 

I am wondering what you mite levels are. If you can see mites on the bees, that's very bad and usually means a high mite load. If you have had trouble getting a mite count since you can't shake the bars, here is something I do. I built a bar holder - though you could place a bar on the other side of the follower board from the hive. Then I place a target bar on that support - one from the edge of the brood nest, ideally the first one I encounter with some brood, that has about half of each side covered in bees. Then I take a tall plastic cup with alcohol and mesh - a link will follow about how to make - and I gently rub the bees above the cup into the cup. I use a hive tool, but a bee brush could work too. I get maybe 20 at a time so I do this repeatedly. 

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/an-improved-but-not-yet-perfect-varroa-mite-washer/

If there are too few bees to check mite levels, that is what I would expect if no mated queen returned. It happens about half the time for me. 

There are moments like this for all beekeepers - realizing that something is wrong with the hive - and what helps me is to think about next season. Even if these bees don't make it, they made a lot of comb which is a great wealth for a future hive.


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