Hey everyone, beekeeping is not all 'milk and honey' excuse the proverbial ambiguity. Soon into this incredible adventure that is bee-keeping and my quest in becoming South Africa's Premier Honey Producer we hit a little bit of a snag. The common and annoying wax moth. These eat the wax in hives hence ultimately destroying all the bees, dependant on many factors but generally small or new hives!
This is what the inside of one of our infected hives look like after high pressure spraying and then putting into a deepfreeze over night which effectively kills the eggs.
After this process was completed I need to re-install the beginner comb wax strips as below. This is rather easy to do, simply put the first 5mm in hot water for a few seconds and place in the groove at the top of the brooder frame!
A good plan after freezing the hive for a day or two is to leave it in the sun for a day to make sure all the moisture has been evaporated from the wood.
I have done extensive research on wax moth they say prevention is better than cure, a nice way of attracting wax moths to a trap rather than your hive is rather simply and effective. Simply get a 2 litre coke bottle and drill a 20 mm hole just under the neck. Put in a cup of sugar, a cup of vinegar, a cup of water and a banana, leave in the sun for a few days, once this mixture has 'matured' it apparently becomes irresistable to wax moth and they go in and drown in the trap rather than destroying your hive. I have not tried this yet but shall do so and report back soon.
Below we have an infected hive out to thaw in the sun. Bottom right is a queen excluder. This is put on the brooder box to prevent the queen laying eggs in your super frames, you don't want eggs in your honey!
Tonight I will be installing two supers with two windows in 2 different hives which promises to be exceptionally interesting, I shall take pics and video's be sure to stay tuned for that.
Have a super Wednesday.
Cheer$;)