Wax moth damage

[OzBuzz]

Will a hive typically take care of any damage causes by wax moth I.e. the cob webs etc? I've cleaned the frames up and removed most of the mess but there's still a little on the frames

[AllenF]

If there is still some comb left, the bees will clean up just fine.   If most all the comb is gone, you can cut out the bad and the bees will will in.   I like to scrape the cocoons off the wood, but I guess the bees would clean that up also.   Bees can clean up messy frames in no time. 

[Birdswood]

As Alan siad Oz, the bees will clean it up. Did you freeze the frames before you cleaned them up?

[S.Rummings]

Would anyone say that cleaning up the frames before giving them to the bees would save them time that could be spent on more productive tasks or is there enough division of labor in the hives that it wouldn't matter? Will giving them this extra work eventually result in less honey for example?

[OzBuzz]

As Alan siad Oz, the bees will clean it up. Did you freeze the frames before you cleaned them up?

Thanks for your replies folks - birdswood - that's one area I'm a little nervous in! I didn't get to freeze them no! I noticed some freshly emerged moths and some large grubs but no small grubs - I killed any moths or grubs I found and removed as much of the web and messed up comb as I could - I'm hoping that's enough! I have to invest in a chest freezer!

[OzBuzz]

Would anyone say that cleaning up the frames before giving them to the bees would save them time that could be spent on more productive tasks or is there enough division of labor in the hives that it wouldn't matter? Will giving them this extra work eventually result in less honey for example?

I'm going to take a guess here and say it wouldn't make that much difference if all of your frames were drawn - theoretically this work would be done by the housekeepers! If they're just repairing damaged areas, and there's still plenty of space for the field bees to fill, then I would assume your production wouldn't be impacted too much (unless it was a huge flow and nectar was coming in quicker than they could repair. If though there was a mixture of repair and drawing out foundation then I imagine that repair would take away from drawing which I imagine would impact on productivity.. Happy to hear others thoughts.