Straight Line damage in drawn wax

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tobbias88

New Bee
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
Location
Omagh N. Ireland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
4
Hi,
What is the insect eating/cutting long diagonal lines into newly drawn foundation? Right now I'm doing Apiguard treatment on 3 hives but noticed this damage on one only.

Can I leave the bees to deal with it? If not what should I do? Thanks.
 
Are you sure it's not the bees ignoring the wax above the wires?
 
Could be Wax Moth, draw your hive tool across the line and if a Wax Moth is present it will soon be seen wriggling on the surface of the comb, then just squash it! job done Chris
 
Right now? It's a bit dark actually & raining. Maybe tomorrow. I need advice now.
 
No it looks like someone took a knife & sliced a line diagonally along the empty cells.
This is a late swarm & not terribly strong - only about 4-5 frames completed as of now. I am feeding but wonder will they survive the winter.
 
I have always found that the bees deal with Waxmoth but at this time of year the bees are starting to contract and its getting colder causing the bees to cluster that bit closer perhaps leaving a bit of room for the waxmoth to sneak back in.

If you remove the frame and tap the side of the frame several times with your hive tool 9 times out of 10 the wax moth will come to the surface and you can flick them off for the birds.
 

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