Hive Moths and what to do?

I captured a small swarm of about 2 lbs of bees in the middle of June. I placed them in a NUC Box.
Over the past few weeks, hive moths have moved in since the swam is small. I tried removing all but 3 of the 5 frames from the Nuc box and cleaning out what moths I can see.

My question is, i’m pretty sure the bees are not going to make it in the nuc. How do I save the bee’s or is it a lost cause?

If you remove their queen, you could merge them with one of your other hives using a layer of newspaper. Nice boost to the other hive, and the bees get to live for a bit longer. :wink:

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As always, Thank you Dawn. I will let you know what happens.

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If you decide to merge, you could put them in the same size box (8 or 10 frame) as your other hive, even if there are only 3 or 5 frames. They will be through the paper in 1-2 days, then you just take the extra box away. At this time of year, they probably won’t do anything crazy in the merging box if you only leave it on for 2 days. :blush:

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Hey @Dan_C sorry to hear about the moth infestation, it’s a sad mess to see. This happened to one of my hives in the past and the best I could do for the colony was to merge them. At some point all their effort was devoted to cleaning up and corralling larvae and moths - getting stuck in webs in the process, and starving since they were unable to forage and stores had dwindled to nearly none. I don’t know if foragers stay in to help with moth duty, or if bees that would become foragers never do because they have to keep battling the infestation :thinking:

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