Bald Brood

[beeno]

Hi all,
I do believe I have bald brood in one hive which is caused by wax moth. I have only seen one moth, caught in a spiders web under the hive, and empty straight lines in the comb which is supposed to signify wax moth larvae. A bit surprised as the hive has plenty of bees. Anything I should do about it before closing up or is wax moth dormant during the winter? Other beeks have had wax moth problems too in my area. Any suggestions?

 

[drstitson]

tap the frame to get the larvae to pop head out then quickly squish.

 

[psafloyd]

tap the frame to get the larvae to pop head out then quickly squish.

 

[beeno]

tap the frame to get the larvae to pop head out then quickly squish.

Thanks drstitson not convinced. Do not want to open up in spring with a hive full of webs. It would be very sad.

 

[drstitson]

all you can do in a colony is kill the buggers when you see them.

frames with no bees get the certan or shutting in moth tight containers.

 

[Poly Hive]

Busy Bee said on an earlier thread.

Baldbrood is a condition whereby the heads of the developing pupae and prepupae are visible during the period between capping and emergence of the bee. This may be due to the genetic strain of bee, which results in the incomplete and faulty capping of the larvae by the bees, causing death to some brood. Alternatively, it may be caused by the larvae wax moth (Galleria mellonella) chewing its way through brood cappings in a straight line. Affected bees may have deformed legs and wings and faecal pellets of the wax moth may be seen adhereing to their bodies. There is no specific treatment for baldbrood, but requeening and treating for wax moth are good practices.

Busy Bee

PH

 

[drex]

Giving my empty boxes a good go with a blow lamp before putting into store, I was surprised at the number of wax moth larvae that came wriggling out from under the hollow tunnel of the frame runner. Think I will seal the ends before use next year. I then treated the empty boxes and frames by burning sulphur, before ratchet strapping with a cover board top and bottom. Stored in the cold in my shed. Not seen any real damage in the occupied combs.

 

[Lorenz]

Busy Bee said on an earlier thread.

Baldbrood is a condition whereby the heads of the developing pupae and prepupae are visible during the period between capping and emergence of the bee. This may be due to the genetic strain of bee, which results in the incomplete and faulty capping of the larvae by the bees, causing death to some brood. Alternatively, it may be caused by the larvae wax moth (Galleria mellonella) chewing its way through brood cappings in a straight line. Affected bees may have deformed legs and wings and faecal pellets of the wax moth may be seen adhereing to their bodies. There is no specific treatment for baldbrood, but requeening and treating for wax moth are good practices.

Busy Bee

PH

Does the lesser wax moth achroia grisella not cause the same problem PH? Celia Davies reckons it is mostly Achroia grisella and less so Galleria Mellonella.

If i can be bothered i sometimes pull out the baldbrood larvae with tweezers and you sometimes catch the larva under them.

 

[beeno]

Thanks All,
Nothing to be done whilst frames in the hive then. May try to catch a larva if the weather is good just to see if it is wax moth or genetic. Is the wax moth active during the winter at all?

 

[oliver90owner]

Waxmoth larvae presence is normally seen distinct from baldbrood. They normally go in straight lines and often changing in direction. Only a single line is one give-away. I don't tap the frame but simply poke the hive tool at the end of the line and out they wriggle.

Never suffered from lesser waxmoth taking over a colony, but they will if the colony is not strong enough to occupy all the space in the summer/autumn season. Stored comb is a different story; regular sulphur treatments, when the weather is not cold enough to kill them, is a good strategy.

 

[SimonB]

empty straight lines in the comb which is supposed to signify wax moth larvae.

Apologies if you're aware of this, but are you sure these are not the lines of empty cells that are in line with the foundation wires that the bees often ignore (too shallow I believe) ?

 

[beeno]

Apologies if you're aware of this, but are you sure these are not the lines of empty cells that are in line with the foundation wires that the bees often ignore (too shallow I believe) ?

Hi Simon,
Thanks for that but I am foundationless!

 

[Nic Rhodes]

It is the wire not the foundation that causes this.

 

[beeno]

It is the wire not the foundation that causes this.

Sorry Nic wrong terminology on my part I am wireless as well.

 

[Nic Rhodes]

Okay , I have found that wires are also beneficial when going foundationless unless you want to do cut comb, the give the frames extra strength for the extraction process. Might be worth thinking about for the future.

 

[Scutellator]

Hi all,
I do believe I have bald brood in one hive which is caused by wax moth. I have only seen one moth, caught in a spiders web under the hive, and empty straight lines in the comb which is supposed to signify wax moth larvae. A bit surprised as the hive has plenty of bees. Anything I should do about it before closing up or is wax moth dormant during the winter? Other beeks have had wax moth problems too in my area. Any suggestions?

Are you sure you are not talking about VSH behaviour. I've seen it hundreds of times and it's very similar of what you describe.

 

[beeno]

Are you sure you are not talking about VSH behaviour. I've seen it hundreds of times and it's very similar of what you describe.

Hi Scutellator,
Now you have really got me going. I don't know if it is good or bad!

 

[Scutellator]

Wellcome to the beekeeper's world.

Usually the bald brood from wax moth is very distinct from the one caused from VSH. As the bees' larvae in the damaged by the wax moth cells usually go upwards, those cells look like paches of "fake drone brood" in an area of healthy worker brood.

The uper left picture shows decapitaded pupa by VSH bees. The SVH bees may or may not remove(chew) the infested brood. In the second case the result is "bald brood"

The situation on the picture on the upper right could be easily mistaken with VSH begaviour.

The last picture is a clasic example of bald brood caused by the wax moth

 

[beeno]

Hi Scuttelator.
Very interesting indeed. However, no such luck as VSH IMHO as my recollection of the state of my hive is pic 2 to the right.