Hey everyone, upon reading the title you may ask, but why on earth would you want to do that? Simple Answer, the horrid Wax Moth or Tiny Hive Beetle! Check out my post here on these terribly destructive enemy of bees @craigcryptoking/wax-moth-elimination-prevention-and-control!
I will never destroy a swarm of bees no matter what, infested colony or not there is always a solution, in this case all the brood combs are infested with bugs eggs or both, so simply removing all the comb and bees manually is not an option, you will have achieved nothing.
Happily, there is ALWAYS another option and 95 % of the time this is it and the success rates are ASTOUNDING!
What I did here was got a 4 mm plastic square shaped mesh and rolled it into a conical configuration. I tied them up with simple cotton wool and strengthened by gently wrapping insulation tape around the cones (not quiet German engineering at it's finest) but functional never the less ")
Generally weak swarms are infested or can be, by Wax Moth and Hive Beetles, problem with just using a Hive Beetle trap is the eggs stay behind and albeit getting rid of all beetles, just a matter of time before they re-appear!
The first pic on this blog was my first attempt. I simply installed the cone on the exit of the hive and closed up the other hole as to only allow for one exit and ensure they do not re-enter through the other open hole. The large side of the cone installed on the bee-hive exit and the smaller side of the cone pointing outwards as per the pic. The reason one uses a mesh for this cone is two fold. Light needs to enter the hive so that the bees know it is day time and time to gather food, the second reason is smell, if they can only smell one point of exit naturally that would also be a point of entry so they would easily find their way back into their original hive, which naturally, is counter productive! Using a mesh allows for the smell to dissipate making for an easier relocation to their new residence!
Bees have the most incredible GPS system better than any man made device available. I initially installed the trap out device on the below hive containing the bees and put a new hive above in the hope they would naturally migrate to the above hive as their entrance to their old hive is blocked. Turns out bees are way smarter than I. They simply clustered around the cone, which got me thinking, plan B???
I then took the original hive and moved it two metres to the left and then put the new hive in the EXACT spot where the old hive was, HEY PRESTO we have action. The bees leave the old hive on their days working activities and return to the EXACT location where their old hive was and enter the new hive.
This is my first experiment with this trap out method and the life of the swarm really depends on it working so I am really holding my thumbs. It has been 12 hours so far and certainly many bees entering and exiting the new hive. The BIG question thus remains, where is the Queen? If she has not migrated to the new hive and does not plan to this may fail, however yet again we have options, there ARE ALWAYS options. In the event of a dead or awol Queen the workers can become layers, lay eggs and create a new queen or conversely at night we will open the hive inspect to see if we can locate the queen and manually place her in the new hive!
By tonight the majority of the worker bees will be in the new hive, the success of this move depends on inspection and correct execution of the procedure which so far seems very successful, but I will definitely keep you in the loop on the progress of this swarm!
Below a pic of last nights initial installation. I used a bee suit as a precautionary measure as well as blocked with a piece of toilet paper the exit. This was not necessary however as bees are very relaxed at night. Once the install was complete simply moved the toilet paper allowing for them to exit at will at dawn!
Here we have a view from the back of the hives new hive on the right and old hive on the left. All the workers are gradually migrating across I am really just hoping the queen follows in hot pursuit we only have a few hours of daylight left today failing which we will retrieve her tonight and gently place her in her new home!
A view from the front with the new hive on the left and old hive on the right.
Success is imminent. The new hive, judging by the the activity, seems to have more bees in than the old hive so really hoping in the next few hours the whole swarm has relocated to their new, clean, un-infested happy home.
I will be posting a video of all the action later on be sure to stay tuned for more on my epic Bee-Keeping adventure.
Cheer$;)