Wax moths

[moldy]

Have been trying this beekeeping thing with very limited success.  ALL my hives have been wiped out this year due to wax moths.  I'm fairly certain it is because I made the mistake of using used equipment.  I soaked them in bleach water, rinsed, dried, then ran a blowtorch over them.  I was just sure that would kill everything.  Well, evidently not wax moth eggs/larva.  I'm just sick about the loss of my bees as well as the $$ spent.

Can I save ANY of the equipment?  I figure the frames will have to be burned, but can I save the supers/bodies if I fumigate them with PDB?

Can I save the wax?  I plan on using it for reloading or maybe some salves.  I don't have a solar melter, so I put all the wax and debris in a pillowcase and weight it so it stays underwater, then into boiling water for about a half hour or so.  The debris stays in the case and the wax floats to the top and I can just pull it out (have done wax like this before - just not sure about using wax with the eggs/larva in it).

Thanks for any suggestions.  This has just ruined my week, and my attitude has reflected that.  

[Deleted]

Wax moths to not kill hives. They are opportunists and will lay eggs in weak hives. The give has to be weak enough to allow them to hatch and take over. Essentially meaning they were doomed anyway.

Yes, all of your equipment can be reused.

[Deleted]

The only reason to destroy equipment is American foulbrood. Period.

I highly recommend joining beesource.com/forums Reading bushfarms.com/bees and buying beekeeping for dummies. You seem to be under some mistaken beliefs on when to destroy perfectly good expensive supplies. Start fresh next spring with some nucs and bee happy.

[Deleted]

The eggs in The wax will be killed by melting. Or you can freeze for 48 hours.

[moldy]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Beekeeping for Dummies was what I was going by - there is a quote that 'if you have a moth invasion in a living colony, it's too late to do anything'. For some reason, I read that as I would have to get rid of everything. Like I said, I was pretty upset at the time. So... if I freeze the frames, and fumigate the bodies/supers with PDB - I can re-use everything? Including the wax? Do I need to clean off the cocoons? How do I do that (burn them off??). I have been storing the empty hives/frames in an area that while it's not heated, it doesn't usually get below freezing in the winter. I'm thinking that I will move them down to an outbuilding where they will get below freezing.

It seems that bees are like cattle - everyone has a different opinion on how to raise/manage them.

[moldy]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Beekeeping for Dummies was what I was going by - there is a quote that 'if you have a moth invasion in a living colony, it's too late to do anything'. For some reason, I read that as I would have to get rid of everything. Like I said, I was pretty upset at the time. So... if I freeze the frames, and fumigate the bodies/supers with PDB - I can re-use everything? Including the wax? Do I need to clean off the cocoons? How do I do that (burn them off??). I have been storing the empty hives/frames in an area that while it's not heated, it doesn't usually get below freezing in the winter. I'm thinking that I will move them down to an outbuilding where they will get below freezing.

It seems that bees are like cattle - everyone has a different opinion on how to raise/manage them.

[Deleted]

How bad are the cocoons? All over the frames? Simply,shake them out. If they aren't terribly webbed up the new bees will clean them up for you.

[Deleted]

Yes, reuse everything. if the moths made a complete mess of the comb it may be easier to remove all the webbing and start fresh, either with new foundation of you use it, or scraping back to the plastic if you us e plastic, or if you are foundationless down to the frame. Depends on how bad of a mess it really is. A minor mess the bees will clean up in a hurry.

[moldy]

They are pretty bad in the hive body frames - not so bad on the supers. I think I may just scrape off everything I can, then freeze the frames and fumigate the bodies/supers/frames and leave them tied up in plastic bags in an outbuilding until spring.

Thank you so much for your replies.

[Deleted]

Sounds great. 

[Deleted]

I know I'm late to the discussion here, but our experience with wax moths is that they are NECESSARY to keeping healthy hives. As an example, we intentionally set out a frame that had been partly brood comb, the center part. The outer part was honey storage. Wax worms ate only the brood portion, leaving the rest of the "clean" comb. Put back into the hive, the bees cleaned up the odd bits and rebuilt the comb.

In eating used brood comb, wax worms reduce the disease organisms that repeated use of brood comb can give rise to, forcing the bees to replace old comb with new and giving each generation of larva a new, clean start. It's a symbiotic relationship. Wild hives have wax moths doing their clean-up all the time. It's only us greedy beekeepers who can't stand to have our bees doing anything but making honey for us, that see the hive equivalent of 'urban renewal' as "bad".

[Deleted]

Andy, to an extent that is true. I,have never seen wax moths stop at the honey comb though if it is in the same frame. Interesting observation, I may have to,try that. I rarely have wax moth problems at all.