The Four Major Threats Posed by Wax Moths

The damage caused by wax moth larvae permeates your hive reproduction, comb storage, and bee product processing.

1. Collapse of Your Brood Rearing Area:

As the wax moth larvae burrow through the cell caps, they create "bald pupae." To remove the exposed pupae, you might find your worker bees biting open the cells further. Although the pupae may survive, their developmental efficiency is slow.

Additionally, if larval excrement contaminates the cells, it interferes with the molting process of your bee pupae, leading to deformities in their wings or legs. In severe cases, the comb structure may collapse. This forces you to reduce the queen's egg-laying, thereby diminishing your colony's capacity to rear brood.

2. Structural Damage to Your Comb and Hive:

The larvae chewing through your comb can create dense silk webs that may destroy an entire comb within a week. Their strong penetrating ability even allows them to bore through the wooden structure of your frames, which shortens the lifespan of your hive. 

Moreover, the metabolic heat generated by greater wax moth larvae can raise the local temperature by up to 25℃ even in low-temperature environments. This means they can continue to cause damage during the autumn and winter. Meanwhile, the smaller wax moth tends to concentrate its activity among the debris at the bottom of your comb.

3. Contamination of Your Bee Products and Economic Losses:

Stored Honey: If you leave wax moth eggs behind during packaging, the hatched larvae can rapidly spoil your comb honey. The resulting silk webs and excrement will strip it of its commercial value.

Bee Pollen: Wax moth larvae favor fresh or dried pollen as their ideal food. Eggs can attach to pollen traps or packaging bags, and when they hatch, they may render your product unusable.

Beeswax Products: When you melt down the polluted comb, the increased impurities lower the quality of your beeswax.

4. Colony Abandonment and Indirect Disease Transmission:

If your weak bee colony can not repair the damaged comb, it may abandon the hive entirely. You will suffer direct losses at this time. Furthermore, the larvae's feeding activity may carry and spread European Foulbrood (EFB) bacteria. These bacteria will raise the risks to your honey bee colony's health even higher.