Backyard Apiary

I did a quick outside inspection of the beeyard. The split I made to prevent a fall swarm was all but dead. The hive’s top was a piece of plywood, which warped enough to open most of one side. In the entrance to that opening, I saw a wax moth cocoon. To get a better idea, I quickly propped the top open about an inch and saw many more cocoons and dozens of wax moths squirming around. I suited up and started to rip through the hive. It was a complete loss. All of the drawn frames have extensive damage from the moths and there was no sign of a laying queen.

The have wasn’t very strong during my previous inspections and that is the main reason it couldn’t handle wax the moths. The hive only had about 10 frames of drawn comb, but was in two medium boxes with the intention of letting them expand from feeding. They were also in the process of replacing a queen. The missed brood cycles, the extra large opening in the top and a pollen patty to feed the wax moths are to blame. It’s also possible that the hive was robbed out because it had a frame feeder and a population that cannot defend from the stronger hives.

I disassembled the hive and shook out all of the bees. I stomped as many cocoons and larvae as I could before standing up all of the equipment away from the hives. The local birds should get a nice snack in the morning. Over the weekend I’ll need to scrape all the equipment clean and then put them in the freezer to make sure any eggs I missed are killed.

The nuc on the top bar hive was the other hive I gave a pollen patty, so I did a quick check to make sure they were not suffering the same fate. I opened the top of the hive and it was overflowing with bees. I looked down the top bar  opening and there were no signs of wax moth. The hive has very small entrances and a good sized population. Unfortunately, it looks as if they have not drawn out any of the top bars. I think I’ll need to move them in to 10 frame equipment or quickly build a long hive.