A week after what looked like a successful split, opened the hives and found 2 moth grubs in one of the hives.
The hive that had the queen looks OK but the one with the new queen is just starting to get active but had the grub. I found 2. One largish the other small.
Have tried to take a good look at the frames but its a bit cool and the bees get a bit angry after about 5 minutes.
Since the split I’d limited their opening to one entrance to allow them to protect themselves till they’re strong enough.
What should I do???
More ventilation, less?
Bigger/smaller entrance?
I have a total of 3 hives, one of which has the flowhive super. Thats going good.
Am trying to get 2 more established to allow me to put the other flow hives on top thats why I had to do a split.
To me the one week timescale suggest the infestation may have already been in the box where you put the split. If you have plenty of bees covering ALL the frames in your hive then the bees may be able to keep the wax moth under control. I have had a little wax moth problem with stored comb. I melted all the affected comb in boiling water. That slowed the wax moths down pretty much.
I’m not an expert on wax moth so I will be interested to read what others have to say.
I had two hives that had a bout with the moths… Seemed to be somewhat confines to the conflux boards in the SBBoards. I pulled mine everyday for several weeks, cleaned them with Clorax Cleanup, then soap n water, then rises (yes ! I know I might have raised a couple eyes) ( yes! I used a chemical) but I was careful n rinse well … After a few more weeks I did not find anymore wax moths, larva or eggs. This season I won over the moths. Next year who knows.
I did loss two healthy hives this very fall to varroa mites. Those things suck big time ! It’s a learning curve with all these new critters, pests n such … Didn’t have any troubles back in the 1950’s n 60’s. But life goes on n learning this new bee stuff does too.
Wax moths tried to get a hold on my hive back in July here in PA, US. Like Gerald I kept finding them on the coreflute, adults & larvae - disgusting. I made sure to pull it out every other day or so to kill/clean off the little bleeders & once I saw a worker bee squaring off at a moth, so the bees certainly do deal with them if they have enough woman-power.
To help them out I made a moth trap & hung it on the fence right behind the hive - there were a lot of dead moths inside after awhile so it definitely worked! Here’s a screen shot of the instructions I followed (hey @craig please take a look, I think I forgot the vinegar when I described this to you)
Meant to emphasize the part about the banana peel - this is key - banana scent mimics the alarm pheromone of bees, so they will avoid the trap. Otherwise they’d be equally attracted to the borax syrup & easily get into the large hole ️:anguished:
Great brew ! I like to pull that bottom board at least weekly to help complete my hive observations especially if I’m not doing a deep hive check n inspection. A lot of evidence on the lower board. We didn’t have this invention back in the 1950’s n 60’s when I was a young beekeeper. A lot of changes over the last 50 to 60 years. Not all GOOD ! I’m learning more each week if not daily about my bees.
They are still bringing in nectar n yellow pollens from some late blooming sources in this stormy cool wet autumn here in Puget Sound SE of Seattle.
Love a great cup of coffee. Like mine with 1/2n1/2 cream … Can’t give up that ole Farmer habit.
That special moth cocktail would ruin any beverage n mess up a day !
I also had a bunch of sugar ants (those tiny ones) robbing two hives most of the season. Tried cinnamon but our rains made that a failure. Bit of borax worked best. Weather has turned cold up here in the foothills. Should see white topped mountains soon on the higher peaks !
Still see my bees trying to forage on something with yellow pollen …
️:anguished:
guessing that cocktail is for the moth critters n not us 
.
. Now I have to get ready for my dad n pour another cup of hot coffee. It’s 46 dgs here this showery morning.
