With the problems going on with Hive 2, I had the president of the East Richmond Beekeeper’s Association, ERBA, come over and have a look to see what was going on. When we opened the hive, we immediately discovered about a dozen larvae of the Wax Moth. I killed each one and removed 4 or 5 cocoons. I also removed that frame to clean it and subsequently replace it. I need to get it in a cooler.
This was a good lesson, although it was not aimed at me. The key point to this discovery was that no larvae were found on or around any of the frames that had bees on them. The good thing was that the bees on this hive had moved out to 5 frames, which was a first. They have clearly been active. The one problem with all of this is that the bees really have next to no honey at this time. They are effectively eating just about everything that they bring in.
My goal is to get more frames with honey on this hive. I hope to get some Megabee soon and will begin a feeding program to supplement that. I really do feel good about everything else, however. The Robber Screen and feeding have increased this hive’s chances of making it through the Winter. I will be checking them every week, going forward, but not using any smoke. The moment it becomes too uncomfortable (due to stings) to do so, I will reduce my visits to every two weeks and use a tad of smoke.
On a side note, I did also see one small hive beetle in the hive. A bee was chasing him. Beekeeping in Central Virginia is no ‘Walk in the Park’….
