Wax moth in my supers - should I feed or extract

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
401
Reaction score
59
Location
Warwick
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
15
I have had some supers in the kitchen for a week and a half waiting to extract.
Got to the last one today and when I lifted it up...there were a half dozen fat caterpillars underneath.
On a few frames there is caterpillar silk and droppings.

I dont really think that I should be extracting the frames.
Do you think that they would be ok to put back under a strong colony and see whether they will clean up the honey and move it up?
 
I have had some supers in the kitchen for a week and a half waiting to extract.
Got to the last one today and when I lifted it up...there were a half dozen fat caterpillars underneath.
On a few frames there is caterpillar silk and droppings.

I dont really think that I should be extracting the frames.
Do you think that they would be ok to put back under a strong colony and see whether they will clean up the honey and move it up?

I often have to remove the odd patch of wax moth silk from a super before uncapping. I use a separate uncapping fork for the job and 9 times out of 10 the affected area comes out cleanly wihtout any visible remains. If you have 'large' areas affected then you could cut that affected patch out before extracting? Your call. Do you have any pics?
 
So much for the people on here who say they only go on brood frames!!!
I would try and salvage what I can and consider feeding any scrapings back to the bees in a rapid feeder
E
 
So much for the people on here who say they only go on brood frames!!!
I would try and salvage what I can and consider feeding any scrapings back to the bees in a rapid feeder
E

There is no difference between brood and honey frames. Boxes, and frames, are shallows and deeps - or even extra-deeps. Nothing in beekeeping that says any, or all, cannot be brooded in or have honey stored in them.

For instance, what would you call a shallow box, full of brood - a box which should have neen a super, but the queen managed to get the wrong side of the queen excluder?
 
Waxmoth larvae do well on shallow super combs if there are cells of pollen in them to provide a source of protein ie they can manage without the larval skins of brood comb.
 
Extract the honey it will be fine, there are a number of ways(certan, sulphur strips, freezing) which can kill off any wax moth in the combs.
 
There is no difference between brood and honey frames. Boxes, and frames, are shallows and deeps - or even extra-deeps. Nothing in beekeeping that says any, or all, cannot be brooded in or have honey stored in them.

For instance, what would you call a shallow box, full of brood - a box which should have neen a super, but the queen managed to get the wrong side of the queen excluder?

:offtopic:
 
There is no difference between brood and honey frames. Boxes, and frames, are shallows and deeps - or even extra-deeps. Nothing in beekeeping that says any, or all, cannot be brooded in or have honey stored in them.

For instance, what would you call a shallow box, full of brood - a box which should have neen a super, but the queen managed to get the wrong side of the queen excluder?

Sorry, I will be about more specific
So much for those that say you only get wax moth on frames that have had brood in them and that they don't go on honey only frames. And before you say anything I know that I don't KNOW if they had had brood in them ...... Just a supposition on my part. I really must say what I mean!!!! Or mean what I say!
:hairpull:
E
 
This years frames, and no brood in them.
Was using the lid of a poly hive as a tray to stack the supers on, so that i could feed any dripped honey back to the bees by just putting the lid on a hive.
Noticed that the wax moth lavae had made bid indents into the lid.

I read that they were looking into the wax moth for plastic recycling.....well they can dissolve polystyrene !!!
 
This years frames, and no brood in them.
Was using the lid of a poly hive as a tray to stack the supers on, so that i could feed any dripped honey back to the bees by just putting the lid on a hive.
Noticed that the wax moth lavae had made bid indents into the lid.

I read that they were looking into the wax moth for plastic recycling.....well they can dissolve polystyrene !!!

Thanks for clearing that up. Hope it lasts forever!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top