Update: On the Wax Moth front, someone on a forum advised me to look for Hive Beetles. He seemed fairly certain that this was more likely my problem.

So, this afternoon, after a stint at the Henrico County Gardening Helpline, I went out to have a brief look. No smoke this time (smoke sets them back and I am not using it again until I am stung), but I did not look into the frames.

I was able to get the feeder and the top deep hive off and finally replaced the bottom board with a screened bottom board. Bees were all over the place, but no one got real cranky and stung me. The hive looked great, with lots of bees on 8 of the frames (I didn’t pull them out, but could see them milling about.) They have not moved to the second deep, which is fine by me, as they are still working on the bottom one.

I did kill a handful of bees, but I hope to reduce this when I get my bee brush in the mail shortly. The little suckers love to run over to the spots where they will get crushed. I am now confident that anyone starting a new hive should feed from the start and put up a robber screen too. This is how a hive can get the best chance of knocking the ball out of the park when it is just getting started.

Tomorrow, we look at Hive 2! David Stover of the ERBA is coming to have a look with me.