swarm abscond

After a 3 week vacation, I returned to a hive with:

• no May 10th swarm bees
• no wax capping waste on the screened bottom board
• wax moth egg laying concentrated on the only frame of dark comb
  
• most amazing, no small hive beetle (SHB) destruction which makes me more convinced that the bees absconded leaving no brood or honey behind for SHB
  

I found the pre-cleanup look too sci-fi horrific for the blog post.  So, the video was taken after the cleanup of sticky wax moth destroyed comb.  Wax moth larvae were offered to the chickens which they voraciously consumed.  

As you can see in the video:

• new comb was built on all frames showing no reluctance to build on plastic starter strips
  
• previously I donated a deep frame of capped honey to this hive and now this frame of comb is intact less the honey contents

wax moth larvae cleanup

Lazy beekeeping has a few downsides. This summer, two tall stacks of boxes with drawn comb and no bees attracted wax moths.  Next, the wax moth larvae ate the drawn comb...all the comb.    Larvae chewed the wood too, compromising some frames and boxes.  What was I thinking - to busy with other things, to hot to wear the beekeeping hoodie.   The not so lazy cleanup went on and on.  I'm a philosophical contradiction.

The chickens enjoyed live snacks and a few wasps helped with the crushed larvae.  I'm grateful that the problem was not small hive beetles. 

chickens eat wax moth larva

The dark debris on the counting board was puzzling and unlike the debris found at the other hives.  On my back and looking up, I discovered a thick layer of wax moth webbing clinging to the screened bottom board.  The chickens ate the wax moth larva too quickly for a still image.  So, here is my first video for this blog.