Saw this creature on the white board that slides under the shb wire trap at the base of flow hive. Is this a wax moth larva? It’/ dead now btw
Yes. If you find more, sell them as bait to fishermen 
1 Like
I had a good day with my bees today -unlike last fortnight which was a bit traumatic for both the bees and me. The hive seems to have survived my care and there are lots of bees. Not much honey yet.
I found a grub on the corflute on Wednesday and again on Thursday and a moth in there this morning. Needless to say they too are a bit dead now.
How do you manage them?
Hiya @BeeShack, a strong colony will keep them in check and it sounds like you have that so don’t be too concerned. My Fh with the screened bottom board has often had grubs on the coreflute like yours which is why I’m not a fan of them. They may be good for shb of which I have no experience with, but I see them as an entry for the moth even top slotted. Now my colony in the Fh is booming I don’t see grubs on the coreflute when I check. Come winter when the population decreases I expect to see them again.
1 Like
Hi Skeggley, I thought the corflute was good because it allows me to monitor the hive without opening the brood, especially as neebee. But see your point, finding a live moth on the corflute was a suprise.
Do you find grubs on the corflute hive or hive with fixed bottom board?
I do have SHB -it came with the nuc - and i’m working to control it. I’ve a few bettle traps that i’m using and will keep experimenting to find a bottom entrance trap on the corflute and also on my planned second hive which will have a fixed bottom. On my fixed bottom board hive i’ve reduced the width of the entrace by 60% and my increase the height by 5mm so as to allow for a SHB trap. What do you think?
1 Like
My first colony was weak, really weak. It was purchased as a nuc and, being totally green knew no better. Thanks Carl… This was on a solid and I was constantly crushing grubs, this colony never grew and petered out last winter it was overcome with moth. My Fh had grubs constantly below the sbb til the colony hit a certain size and now I don’t see them anymore. In my other strong solid board colonys I never find wm.
I have been down at the hives during the night and have seen moths flutter straight in the entrance unhindered. Grrrrrrr.
I tried reducing the entrance, width wise, and when I removed the reducer grubs had burrowed into the corners of the reducer.
Full entrance, strong colony, no problem.
I have no experience with shb, thankfully we don’t have them, @JeffH is our resident shb advisor
Wax moth will never be an issue with a reasonably strong colony. I guess if you’re concerned about the moths at night, a bug zapper would be a good idea, even if it was only temporary. There are many species of moths around during the night. Most of the grubs in our gardens are a result of moths… So the people who sell bug zappers would have us believe.
Hey Jeff, I put a zapper out near the veggie patch to get the cursed diamond back moths that were destroying the brassicas. Next morning there were thousands of moths of many varieties, all camped around the zapper. Thing is about traps is that they attract and ideally we want to repel.
If you do use traps keep them away from what you’re trying to protect.
I used one that had a water tray beneath it. It attracted the moths & then drowned them. I forget what happened to it, we no longer have it.
Hi Skeggley. I been checking and cleaning the corflute daily and have found and squashed a couple of SHB. And a slatter beatle. It appears that some wee beast is in the bottom part of the hive or base. It leaves a trail or makes a trail aong the edge if the corflute. It’s a bit like the mess weavils leave in a container of wheatgerm or flour. I’ve taken to passing a stiff brush along the edge of the corflute to clean it out.
I’ve lots of bees. No honey yet.
Hiya @BeeShack, I taped up the holes in the coreflute as I was finding larvae in the channels. Some have replaced their coreflute with wooden boards. WM make tunnels with their silk and debris and can can burrow into the wood surface.
Generally it’s said not to expect honey to be available in the first year, I didn’t and have only recently drained one Ff from one of the 5 colonys here and we are currently in our main flow. picking up tips from others harvesting their frames has been a benefit for me, letting them be the Guinea pigs so to speak.
I like how all colonys behave differently so there are few hard and fast rules so it’s easy to pick and choose.
Hi skeggley.
I’ve been checking the corflute daily and knocking off any of the WM lavae and silken thread. I suppose duck tape around thd edge of the corflute will do it. I had thought about PVC glue, but i have only one sheet of corflute and was worried about the drying time, especially in this wet weather.
I am not sure i can wait a year for honey.sob:scream:. We’ve stopped buying honey at home in anticipation of the flow…, but perhaps i should go out and continue my financial support of the commercial beeks. 
& Before my family rouse on me!
1 Like