Actually the opposite is true, wax moth like the heat and are much less active wintertime.
It is possible they came with the nuc but this could only have been confirmed while placing the frames into their new home.
Wax moth are everywhere, their one of nature’s necessary evils. If the frames were full and covered in bees then it’s unlikely they came with the nuc.
Personally I don’t like the mesh boards as they don’t allow the bees to access the base to clean it so it is necessary to frequently clean the slider board to keep the grubs out.
What to do? Condense the colony, remove the super if it is on. Coming into winter you’ll need to get the colony strong so feeding to fill the hive may also be required and clean that slider.
HTH.
I have been reading about cedar and how effective it is at repelling moths and other insects but not bees, butterflies, and ladybugs. I wonder if a drop or two of cedar oil regularly applied to the entrance/openings would act as an effective control measure. If nobody has tried it I will experiment next year when my hive count increases.
Wax moths will only cause problems in a very weak hive, with old brood comb that bees can’t look after. If your hive gets that weak it is likely that wasps or other conditions will finish it off.
If your hive has wax moths causing problems, then there is something more serious happening in the hive that needs to be attended to.
Wax moths don’t seem to mind cedar the way other pest moths do. If they did we wouldn’t see them in the cedar brood boxes many Flow owners have. I’ve seen suggestions to grow mint near hives to repel them, so maybe that helps, but ultimately it’s as Jim said - helping colonies stay strong is the best defense.
It takes a fairly high concentration of the cedar odor to repel. If we seal everything up on the outside and the bees seal up the inside, no cedar smell left in the hive to repel other insects. As the summer progressed this year I got to smell the difference first hand on my cedar hive. When I first added the beehive to the yard, anytime I was outside it smelled amazing everywhere. Now, I can’t even catch a hint of cedar smell coming from the hive. I am very confident that these wax moths and hive beetles have not adapted to withstand cedar, it has always been known as the best bug repellent here, at least by the old folks. But like I said, it take a fairly strong odor of it.
Now, after seeing the ways of preventing robbers, like the wet towel trick to help mask the hive odor, has me thinking that adding cedar oil may also help mask the hives odor from robbers too.
I have read where people have put cedar oil and water in a spray bottle and sprayed the inside of their hives, supposedly the bees aren’t effected but the shb, and wax moths die in moments.
If the frames were full and covered in bees then it’s unlikely they came with the nuc.