Multiple issues - Wax moth, swarm indication...

[JonnyPicklechin]

Challenging morning -

*Really strong hive found white carcasses yesterday on landing board. Figured it was remnants of first inspection.
*today more bodies and two large, obviously evacuated, moth grubs. Decided to open up and look.
* found probably 5 to 6 brood frames with "veins" of moth larvae. some emerging, all active when prodded with hive tool.
*Then found about 6 (at first look) good sized sealed QCs across various combs.
* What to do? So decided to deal with swarm so started looking for queen.
* But then thought with these combs riddled with moth maybe it was best to just go for a shook swarm.

At this point I decided to box up and come to you all.

Advice please!

 

[george]

Sounds like they are dealing with the moth problem so let’s park that for a minute.
First job is find the queen , I wouldn’t expect them to swarm/make preparations just yet , is it possible you damaged or killed the queen on your last inspection ?
Find her ASAP or decide she is definitely not there .
Once you have that info you can decide which way to go from there .
If you shook swarm now and there is no queen there will be no recovery .

Do they look like proper queen cells or scrappy little emergency cells ? I see you describe them as ‘good sized’ .

And lastly don’t rush into anything just yet .
Hope that all helps a little .

 

[enrico]

It is unusual for wax moth like that in a strong hive. Presume there is brood and a queen still etc. I can only tell you what I would do. I would put a queen cell frame with another couple of frames in a poly nuc. Get rid of the worst of the month eaten frames. Re arrange original brood box and queen with new frames to replace those removed and take down all other queen cells.
Others will give other ideas but that would be my line of action.
E

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Thanks both.

Glad I checked on the shook method with you.

I will search for the queen and then decide on if to move her with some brood frames and then leave a QC in the original...If I cannot find her then I will go with Enrico's suggestion.

I'll remove the frames with more moth evidence. Another beek says I can cut out the more lightly affected ones and return. I believe I can freeze them for a couple of days and reuse them. Will the bees remove dead (from freezing) brood?

 

[Poly Hive]

This shook swarming business is in my thoughts very rough beekeeping and to be avoided.

Work out the date of your last inspection and ponder the age of the queen cells. I suspect they will marry up.

PH

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

I shall never think of shooking again.

 

[enrico]

Personally I would leave the queen, if you find her, in the original and keep a queen cell with a frame or two (Food and brood) as a back up. I am inclined to agree that it sounds like the queen went missing on your last inspection.
e

 

[Ian123]

Are they on a single brood? If so find queen on comb put a queen excluder on above old box and place queen and frame in new box above after knocking down qcells. Several swarm reps from London already. If you can’t find her or any eggs then obviously don’t knock all the cells down, you could then make a couple of units up with cells. Remove old box when brood has emerged

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Personally I would leave the queen, if you find her, in the original and keep a queen cell with a frame or two (Food and brood) as a back up. I am inclined to agree that it sounds like the queen went missing on your last inspection.
e

These dont look like superscedures to me. But let me try and find her this afternoon..

 

[jeff33]

Don't follow the books. Supercedure or emergency queen cells are not always in the middle. Like the others say, don't do anything (including knocking down cells) until you are sure to have your queen. Once you found her you need to figure out why you have cells. Swarm, damaged, failing....
Early April is still pretty early for virgin to mate so that's another concern.

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Couldnt find a queen....followed Enrico advice and have made up a poly NUC with brood and stores and a frame with QC on it.

Will inspect the original hive this week to check for more QC activity.

I cut out whatever WM i could find and will watch entrance daily.