Wax Moths and Weak Honey Bees!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Take a look at the destruction of a honey bee colony due to wax moths!
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I found that when combined my bee yard and chicken run, the beetles and moths were kept at bay.
And you get your honey for nothing, and your chicks for free?
@@trevor311264 Very clever comment!
Trevor Marron lol good one Trevor
@@trevor311264 very nice. I was going to ask if the chickens eat the bees but you win.
Hello Kaylee ! I can only imagine how bad that sucks to lose a colony, but at the same time, your chickens got a treat... This video really reminds me of the circle of life, and how 1 disparaging moment, can be anothers reward. You have great ideas and you are also very humble....and thats what makes you a great teacher and really.... a great human being. Keep up the good work !
I can’t thank you enough for your knowledge, your kindness and your honesty! ❤️🐝
You don't have to destroy the comb, put it in the freezer then back into a hive, the bees will clean it up and fix it.
Sorry to hear the moths got to your hive. I DON'T have chickens, but I would love to take them slithering lil pests on a fishing trip with me.
So disheartening to see the colony get infected with wax moths and sad to see it go. Thanks for the valuable lesson educating us about this topic!
In nature, the wax moth is an ally that cleans out old combs from a space so that new combs can be made by the next colony. The wax moths did not kill the colony, they are just the result of a dead or weak colony.
Sad ending but part of life. Living and learning sometimes has tough lessons. But failure is learning too. Bless you!💞
It’s sad but also fascinating! Those chickens enjoyed their feast 😄👍
So sorry that you lost this hive! My 14 year old son and I are new to beekeeping. Would love a video that shows how you put the frames in the freezer, remove them and then store them. Thanks for sharing all that you do! I would have never thought to lay the frames out for the chickens. I probably would have picked the bugs off and fed to the chickens.
Thank you so much for sharing the downs as well as the good. Reality happens and seeing it all is healthy and helpful. Thank you. :)
Sorry you lost the colony. Be proud of yourself for helping it out! Looked like your feathered friends had a good meal! Nomnomnom!
@3:50 you suggest it was weak from being robbed from other colonies.
I would agree with that, seeing how the comb is all jagged and uneven (torn).
Sorry about the lose of some of your girls. Thanks for being honest about the ups and downs about Bee keeping. God Bless.
I found a very weak hive yesterday with 5 frames damaged by wax moths. I downsized to 1 rood box and added 2 frames of capped brood covered with bees and shook in 2 mor frames of bees and I’m waiting delivery now on a new Queen to be delivered for this hive. Needless to say the slightly damaged frames were put in the freezer yesterday. Honey Girl, I feel your pain!
Oh, that is horrible, but these things happen and you know why it has happened, how to clean it up and hopefully prevent it from happening again. I loved the clean up by the chickens, so clever using nature as it was intended. Thank you so much for sharing all the moments and not just the good stuff. All the best.
Hello
I am a bee keeper as well. I conceder myself a new beekeeper because I always learn from these videos. I did not know that chickens can clean those moths frames. I need to find me some chickens, lol.
thanks again for this very helpful videos that you are sharing
Thanks for sharing Kaylee. Sorry about the hive. My wife and I greatly appreciate you sharing your life and the successes as well as the fails. We have learned so much from your vids. Your passion is always inspirational.
Just a suggestion, Im sure every beekeeper has different views and opinions on beekeeping, but I personally inspect once a week starting from mid June until late October as robbing, dearth, SHB, and wax moths seem to become a problem. Again, its just a friendly suggestion to maybe avoid this and other problems. I ran into a wax moth problem as well, but at least the lizards around my house enjoyed their free meals :)
Cutest beekeeper on TH-cam..
In Ukraine, wax moths are specially bred, and a very valuable medicine is made from wax moth larvae and waste products. Those who take it practically do not get sick. And it is healthier than honey itself!
Very interesting… I have never heard of that! Thank you for sharing
That's a great idea to use the chickens! Very informative video.
Kaylee, I just had this happen with a honey super that got missed in my barn. The wax moths took it over. I froze the frames for several days. Now I have put them back on a strong hive. I'm going to check them this week to see how well they cleaned up the frames. I"m videoing it all and will put it on my channel when it's all done. Can't wait to see if they did a good job of cleaning it all up.
So sorry to hear about your bees, but I'm sending good vibes and I hope you have the happiest national honey bee day tomorrow.
The grubs are great for pan fish. Used to buy them all the time and caught thousands of crappie, perch and bluegills. Sorry about your hive
I am a new subscriber and won't be moving out onto our land for about 18 months but I am starting to accumulate info and learn because I know nothing about hens and bees but want to have both! I appreciate your honesty and authenticity!!
And quite a pleasure to watch and learn Thankyou
Don't blame yourself. You learn as you go.
I can tell you I was just like you years ago. I will give you some ideas to consider.
1 when you first identify a weak hive, you need to add brood to the hive and possibly a new queen
2 when you harvest your honey or are using old woodwork, you need to check every nook and cranny for wax moth larve. Where the foundation joins the (in the slot) you find them regularly. How this occurs is at night a solitary wax moth sneaks into the hive, even strong hives and lays eggs in the frames, then leaves.
I use a knife to run through the slots. Don't worry if you do a bit of damage as the bees will soon fix it.
3 if you find a wax moth anywhere, kill it.
4 if a hive fails as in this case, you need to very carefully strip it sanitise every bit, check all cracks, slots etc for lave.
Then once again when you are reusing that woodwork go through it again and just before you populate the hive.
Good luck!
Thanks for sharing realistic issues with beekeeping. As a beek in training it’s helpful to have an honest expectation of what to expect.
Not to judge Just to share experience. When working with small swarm colonies the should be kept in a 5 or 6 framer. If feeding is gonna take place the entrance should be kept as narrow as possible to give a small area coverage for defence. During dearth periods it is essential to feed in late late afternoon. Moreover, small swarm colonies definitetely need a boost with a full frame of brood with nurse bees as well as polen frame or polen patties. Best regards.
Thank you for sharing your experiences.
We are naturally curious and it's so satisfying to know things we wouldn't normally know in our daily lives.
ADDAGIRL! It's heartbreaking, but keep it up, your doing an outstanding job. That's some homesteading mentality, using one part of the farm to help other parts. Beautiful.
I absolutely love your little chicken helpers.. Their so lucky to have a mum like you 💙 This has happened to me twice & i feel your little heart breaking but its all part of natures amazing circle of life.
Thanks for being honest with your entire journey and sorry for your loss. Sharing the WHOLE story helps me to be better prepared on my journey! I am in Southern NM and had been advised a swarm had been caught for me BUT they took off. So since it's late in the season I watch and learn as MUCH as I can so I am better prepared next season. Blessings
The biggest mistake bee keepers make is they think they understand bees or can predict their behavior.
Bees are much more intelligent than any human.. they will come up with a novel way to do things that you never imagined...
You don’t get the ups without the downs. As a new bee keeper this info in really valuable; so thank you.
I'm new at bee keeping and experienced this for the first time. Thank you for sharing so I know what to do next.
New subscriber here. Sorry you had to go through this. But thank you for your kindness and for sharing so much on your channel. Sending you a big hug.
In a langstroth hive the inner frames that hold the most brood need refreshed by taking out the outermost frames and moving the brood frames out and putting new foundation to renew broodframes during a nectar flow to get new disease free egg laying frames. In a wild hive the wax moth does the same thing. It needs to be in perfect balance of course. The old brood wax can get dark and stuffed with old cocoons. It just helps keep them healthy. Even pests have a use. I’ve seen them crawling around a healthy hive when I took them apart.
I loved the chicken cavalry!
Kinda reminds me of the destruction left by ash boars on ash trees
Look at this queen handling bees. ❤😂😊❤.
All the hard work we do and it just take one little wax moth to take over
I hate them
How about spreading cloves around or in the bee box (they are also good against toothache) ?! Would that work against moths? Apart from moths: I keep snails away from plants in the garden with my home grown crushed chili peppers, by dispersing them around the plant. The snails can't even take the smell of them and move to the neighbour`s garden or to the next village.
Weak colonies need nucs, too much space to keep warm and to defend and you end with robbing and moth and beetles. Found out the hard way similar to you a couple of years back.
Excellent move with the chickens!!!
Wax moths..!Try a walnut leaf between the hourly bases when you leave the frames over the winter ..!
I’ll give it a try!
That just breaks your heart! Just to let you no what I’m doing. I’m in Van Buren, Arkansas, I using some hive moth traps and they are working, also I use a completely plastic frame every other frame. Just going to check mine now try to let ya no!
very helpful video! thanks for posting
same happened to me, hive swarmed left it weak.
Last year i face this bad thing. I stoped beeing a beekeeper since that. 😓
I have two hives I care for and natural hive in a tree I leave alone also. Your channel is really helpful and heartwarming. It is also funny and I enjoy your journey. Thank you. Picked up some pretty hive tools as well today
Sad times indeed, I despise wax moths!
The wax moths mostly go for comb that has had brood in it. Even if I freeze them, they will come back unless, like you said, they get SEALED in a container. I find problems can happen in weak hives if they have too much space. Sometimes reducing the space in a weak hive can help it reboot and get stronger.
Thanks for sharing, It's happen to me. Don't be afraid to equalize the colonies in brood, bees, honey and pollen. I have a colony that is a good pollen collector but for some reason during the last month or so they didnt do well on the nectar collection aspect so I picked out one that was a strong nectar collector and shared the nectar. I've also shared brood to help out smaller one to grow faster. Queen will only lay as many eggs as she has bees to cover them and tend to them. Equalize.And if she continues to fail, yes do replace her. Good luck guys.
Every time I watch chickens eat kitchen scraps or this kind of stuff it makes me marvel again at the eggs in my fridge or the fried chicken on my plate. Isn’t nature wonderful. 🤗
Wow. Wax moths, I have never heard of those. Thanks for sharing!
I know exactly how you feel-you feel guilty as I did and still do. I have had my first three hives in two years, and lost them all to hive beetles, with the help of wild robbing bees finishing of the weak hives. I keep watching you so that I won't give up.
Hang up a bug zapper and it will help with the wax moth problem. 💕🐝
Love your channel and the way you share a story... great video editing too. Thanks for sharing the bad stuff like this. i run a bug zapper at night about 50’ from my hives just to kill wax moths. It gets a lot of them! My next step is definitely going to be chickens because they put a huge dent in the hive beetle larva in the ground around the hive and people say they don’t go after the bees.
Great video. Love the honesty and open discussion. Don't know if the Queen was the issue or if the amount of space was too much to defend for the small hive. Maybe a frame of brood or two would have been the boost they needed. I am not critiquing your methods, just continuing the conversation. Continue what you are doing and we will all learn together.
I love your garden wagon! Got the same one too.
3 years ago i had also waxmoths but when I called the vet ,he saw that I had also the american lock desease. But actually all my colonies died and I had to burn all of my frames and disinfect all my equipment with a burner and a bleechwater solution. But it could be that the year before they were all weakened of poisoning ......But I restarted this year with 6 new colonies that I got from a friend that I helped years ago in starting a new apiary. But the idea to have spare colonies to reinforce your apiary is a very good idea !
We have the same thing happens every year wax math is terrible in Arizona
I've learned so much about bees 🐝 from you! Thank you for all your knowledge.
Sorry to see this, but it’s great to see what has happened and how you’ve sorted it out. The information is very awesome in helping us understand what happens to the hive in different circumstances. Thanks again Tricky Trev🇦🇺🐝👍
Love you for who you are! Being very living and spirituel in all you do! I learn some, and share some. My bees defenitly are better living since comparing knowledge!
Thanks for a very interesting video Sorry for your loss.
I've had this happen. To the freezer for three days for good measure. We hate seeing these nasty things. It's just disgusting. Bless your sweet soul.
New sub here I came from Hidden Heights Farm. I’m just now getting into bees and I’m looking forward to learning from you!
There's no telling how old the queen was in the swarm. I didn't think about it until this video. I'm going to watch my swarm catches close and requeen if there is any sign of weakness. Thanks for the video and helping educate everyone on real time beekeeping.
I know even the loss of that small hive hurts and I'm so sorry for your loss!!! However I love that the chickens helped clean it up. I love to fish and I have chickens so I would have to split it up 🤣
I enjoy watching any of your videos sad or joyous, keep up the good work, your friends from Massachusetts.
Very well done. 🐝🐝👍
You are great thank you for the info because it helps me alot
head up, this is a normal thing, the problem arose by keeping a weak community of bees in too much space, the weak ones need to be squeezed into a smaller space and this is their first and best help in recovery
Ouch. Keep your chin up, you got this.
Happy National Honey Bee Day
I lost my colony to wax moths. It was a purchased nuc and the Italian strain. I don’t think that they are genetically made to handle the southern climate.
Thanks video honeystead
I’m so sorry about the colony. Thank you though for the information. Hopefully the next one will be stronger. 🤞🏻
Thanks for being real Kaylie.
Always good to have friends like these
Been there an delt with that, welcome to beekeeping, be my guess the colony had other issues, probably viruses from mites, viruses will shut a queen down laying, wax moths are the last thing to finish off a colony, you can treat all you want for mites, its the viruses they leave behind, that devastate the colonies, an only way to fix that is with antibiotics,!! Also on your frames after freezing, ive found best way to store them is by keeping moth crystals on them. Sorry for your loss !!
Thanks and I learned a lot from you
Thank you for sharing! Where did you get your honeycomb stain glass?
I had a weak colony this year that got taken over by waxmoths. It sucks!
we caught a swarm this week, after checking on third day the had killed the queen. we go thru life with great challenges.
Question. You said the colony was very small originally. Would it help to use a nuc box for awhile?
I am using bottom slatted rack with solid bottom broads lost a hive to wax moth but the moth got in when i opened the lid moth was positively waiting up under the lid when i opened the lid the moth went right down the hole in the inter cover i found moth cocoons on the bottom board of another hive but they didnt get in the moth has to flap its wings to move and the the slatted rack the moth couldnt flap its wing to get up threw the slatted rack any way it was my fault i lost the one hive cause i did not check up under the lid first ty
Will the chickens also eat the little black eggs?
Nice
I've had a lot of heartbreak from wax moths in various contexts. But I did discover this (by accident) A great use of wax moths is.... cleaning queen cups! If you rear queens, cleaning the wax from the artificial cups is a pain. Seal them in a jar with some wax moths.
thanks for sharing this, really is not nice
I swear to myself that if I find a sweet beekeeper girl like you, I'll marry her immediately! It's sad I know, at the end we are never used to the death of a colony of bees, a big big hug from Italy!!
Also the worms don’t like heat, lay them on Metal I the sun watch um squirm and die the clean and torch the box and frames. Good luck
Moths alone could NOT kill a honeybee colony. Have you considered other causes/diseases?
Wow, this could not have come at a more fortuitous time for me, I have to address a moth infestation in a dead hive first thing tomorrow. Thanks for giving me the confidence! I am really going to try to do so without treatment however, I have paramoth which is the recommended treatment as long as you store the supers far away from your active hives, but it burns my throat when I'm exposed to it and I have other pets not to mention wildlife to worry about the cross-contamination. I'm going to shake them out and then freeze the leftover frames in a moth proof bag for a year to save the comb. My infestation is nowhere near as big as yours, so I think I can manage it without calling in chickens ;-). Unfortunately my colony had a laying worker, was mercilessly robbed, and then faded away despite transferring brood, despite re-queening, all my best efforts. I'm learning to accept it.
ok what did we learn? 1. it was a weak colony to begin with. 2. the colony never strengthened. 3. it was prime pickens for other pests and bees. So what can be done better? 1 Put a swarm or weak colony in a smaller box. 2. feed and add brood and honey frames. 3. requeen the colony. But I think a smaller box was an answer to look at next time.