Hi I didn’t have time for an inspection today but tonight I pulled the plastic slider and found about 10 or 12 wax moth caterpillars from tiny to large.
Is this a big worry? Should I regularly clean the slider with soap or freeze it to kill eggs?
I also notice that even at the top level, the slider will bow and does not seal the back completely. Would this be a potential entry for wax moths because the bees won’t be guarding this area?
Hey Boo,
The larvae will have come from inside your hive, dropping through the mesh. I’d do an inspection ASAP. You may have an infestation to deal with.
Mike
Thanks Mike.
I’m inspecting this morning. Are eggs visible and where should I be looking for them?
Hi Boo
I have a flow give 2 with the slide out tray and I use diatomaceous earth in it. I For what it’s worth, every time I do an inspection, I have grubs both dead and alive walking through the DE. Some are long waxy/sticky bits and I also have the actual moths that fall through the grate. I used to get worried about this but now I don’t as every time I do an inspection I can never seem to find where the infestation is. All the frames are clean. I am assuming that the bees do a good job of removing any larvae etc and clean it up real quick!
Hi Ben, thanks for that. Ours is a Flow 1, with no tray to put oil or diatomaceous earth in. I just made an inspection and couldn’t find a single grub inside either so I’m not worried about wax moth anymore at this stage.
I just don’t understand how I can have long (I’m talking 10cm) worms/webbing/whatever it is and not be able to find the damage in the frames. Maybe they drop down as larvae and get bigger in the tray? Does anyone know what is going on here. Also I can’t recommend DE any higher, it is a guaranteed kill to all insects that enter into the tray. The bees can’t get in there - it was a good mod from the flow 1. It would be interesting to see if you could purchase just the bottom section from Flow. I can’t imagine it being any more than $100
I’ve done away with the screened bottom board, always had wm issues. I pulled mine apart and found larvae burrowed all around the wooden joints.
Screened bbs are not designed for wax moth prevention.
Thanks skeggley I didn’t inspect all the way down to the bottom board but didn’t see any moth caterpillars or web at all. I have another problem though with colony appearing queen less and reduced bee numbers. This might become a wax moths issue too.
Did you modify the bottom board or just replaced it?
Hi mate, I replaced with a std bb and have plans to modify the original. I’ve got spare time now due to this stoopid virus.
I currently jack up the stand to extract. Another project…
Hi skeggley i haven’t touched the hive for the past few weeks, but no signs of wax moths caterpillars on slider. Do you find the wax moths reduce in numbers over winter here?
No inspections for the next few months, and I do not want to find a surprise next spring.