What does your tray tell you?

Any pics of this Ron?

Here’s a link to the base at my local bee shop. Not much good to you in Pennsylvania, but you get a better look at it. Mine are both on hives so can only show you the outside.

You get a bit of pollen debris in it so you need to clean it out every couple of weeks. I put olive oil in it and any beetles that are chased in there drown.
Cheers
Ron


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Thanks very much Ron, that looks very simple and efficient - I imagine maybe pretty entertaining for the bees too :laughing::+1:

They use it as a bit of a garbage disposal. Used caps, dropped pollen, beetles etc
It’s more than a year since I’ve had them on my hives and they are still almost spotless. Never have to clean the bottom board.

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Hi Ron, the only downside with beetle traps like that & other similar designs is that they open to the side, which is only good for a single standing hive, or two if they open from either side.

Not sure what you mean Jeff.

If you have more than two hives on a stand, they are normally positioned fairly close together, making it difficult to check sideways opening trays unless they are the outside hives. Someone pointed that out to me a while back. It didn’t bother me because I don’t use any traps at all.

Ahh, gotcha. Mine are’nt side by side so didn’t think of that.

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Hi All, cleaned my bottom tray yesterday and found 5 of these in the oil. All different sizes. I thought they may be SHB larve but there were no beetles in the tray. I have been clear of SHB for all of the Canberra winter only a small infestation at the end of summer last year. When I googled images of both they are looking more like wax moth larve. Can I have the brains trust check out my photos and advise? Many thanks, Karen




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Definitely wax moths, Karen. They can get into the tray and enjoy the bits of wax and pollen that collect there, and have a nice, dark place to lay eggs & cocoon without getting much hassle from the bees :unamused:

Have you had a chance to check the hive inside? A strong colony won’t allow much pest presence, but with so many larvae I’d want to make sure all is well.

Here’s a good post on those gross little bastiges, and instructions for a trap :nerd_face:

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Thanks @Eva I only did a hive inspection last weekend and didn’t come across anything that look like wax moth was present. Or any pests for that matter. The only thing that I did different is add a new super box and instead of using foundationless frames, I opted for wax foundation which I ordered from a bee supplier in Newcastle (north of Sydney), and silly me didn’t freeze the wax sheets before adding to my frames and putting them in my hive. My colony has been very healthy and came out of winter very strong with lots of new brood at various stages of development. Do you think this is how I could have introduced the wax moth to my hive :frowning:

No, I doubt it. The tray and sliders under the hive often harbor moths. I suppose if there were eggs on the foundation the bees could have dropped them through the mesh to the tray, but I’m not sure. Since you added a super it sounds like your colony is strong and building, and there’s a good nectar flow on, yay!

I think the activity is most likely confined to the tray and underside of the hive. It’s good to keep the tray clean and to run a long stick or tool down the slider tracks to dislodge and squash possible cocoons. That way you cut down on the chance that an adult moth gets in past the guards. Even then, a strong colony will keep them on the margins.

Incidentally, nowadays I take more time just as I’m opening the hive for inspection to watch for the chance to squash SHB under the lid that get free from gangs of bees and/or the little wax-propolis ā€˜igloos’ they make as beetle jails. I used to stop only to scrape these off, thinking I was removing burr comb, but then found out what the igloos actually are! I try to make up for disturbing their system by killing each escapee with my gloved fingertip before moving on to pulling frames :point_down::smiling_imp:

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This seems like a pretty good guide. I would say SHB.

If you look closely at those photos, you can’t see those little horns on the tail that SHB has. Plus the color is not that overall creamy white like a SHB. My money is on wax moth larvae.

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@JeffH @Eva @Wizard thank you all for your advise, much appreciate it. Yes definitely wax moth. Did another inspection yesterday with my mentor and no signs of moth activity inside the hive. The colony is very strong and healthy but will continue to look out for any pest activity. Love this forum and all the beeks on it, regards KSJ :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Hi there, newbie over here. I just installed my NUC 4 days ago and I checked the tray today and was wondering if anyone could tell me what I’m looking at here? What are the bigger white chunky things? Any advice appreciated!

Hi Annika, welcome, I’m also on the Sunny Coast at Buderim. I’m wondering if those white chunks could be brood that got damaged while you installed the nuc.

Thanks @JeffH Oh no! I hope not! Thank you for your reply. It seemed to go smoothly but I suppose it’s definitely possible. On closer inspection it does look quite a bit like larvae! At least it’s not a pest of some sort, and there are only a couple. I will be extra careful next time!

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You’re welcome Annika, we need to be especially careful around here because hive beetles are bad & will take advantage of something like that.

cheers

Can you describe the odour from a hive with hive beetles? I’m intrigued and want to know what to watch for.
Thanks so much
:grin: