Waxmoth larvae showing up in bottom traps.

[Ray Bayless]

From what I understand, waxmoths are present anywhere bees are kept. I have been seeing a few larvae in the bottom oil filled traps. The traps I use are the "Green Bee" type that cover the entire bottom and have 6 mesh scree covering the oil pan.
 Is this normal? These hives are pretty strong and I have never seen evidence of comb damage.

[AllenF]

Are they moth or small hive beetle?    And the bees fix any comb that gets messed up. 

[Ray Bayless]

Wax Moth. They are larger than the SHB larvae I trapped earlier in the year. Caught an adult in the trap also. I have had quite a first year. Learning all the time. I studied for the better part of two years but still feel unprepared at times.

[BlueBee]

It’s normal.  Even in strong hives the wax moths somehow get in.  We have lots of wax moths here.  The bees will chase the wax moth larvae out of the comb and down to the floor of the hive.  They may get away with munching on wax debris on the floor of the hive for a while before the bees chase them through the screened bottom (if you’re using a screened bottom).  If you’re seeing fairly large wax worms, they’ve been eating for a while.  They start out about the size of a pin head and it does take them a while to grow. 

Ideally your screen bottom is open to the ground so as the bees chase them through the screen they fall into the grass and die.  A pan of oil would have the same effect of their mortality.  I do wonder rather the bees chase the wax worms more quickly if you have a bottom entrance or a top entrance.  With a bottom entrance, there should be more bees around the screen and I would think (not being a bee though) more bees = quicker removal of worms.

Usually you only have to worry about wax moths getting a foothold in a nuc or a hive with too much comb in it.

[Ray Bayless]

Thanks BlueBee. I guess I'm just worrying too much. I'm just glad the traps get them.

[BlueBee]

I was thinking about this one again tonight.  While it is normal for wax moths to get into even strong hives, it’s probably not normal for the wax moths to grow to any significant size before being chased off by the bees.  Hence I think you should pull some frames and make sure the wax moths aren’t chewing up your comb. 

I do see larger larvae under my strong hives, but that is because of the unique design of my insulated hive.  Finding larger wax moth larvae in a conventional setup would warrant some concern.  My hives are insulated on all 6 sides.  There is insulated UNDER me screened bottom.  This means wax and debris and small wax moth larvae collect under the screen yet on top of my bottom insulated.  This provides a place for the wax moths to eat and grow without being molested by the bees.   It would be a better design to simply let the wax, debris and moths fall into the grass (like conventional hives), but that complicates my insulation designs.  So anyhow, in my design the small wax moths do have a place to grow and hence I do find larger larvae under my hives.   I have a cleanout door to clean them out when I get around to it.

Bottom line, in a conventional setup, if you’re finding larger worms, you need to check your combs to be sure you don’t have an infestation that is out of control.