At 06:00 PM 10/9/01 -0400, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>BOTH Lois George and Julia's hives have much bigger problems than wax moths!

Oh, I know that already!  I haven't posted much to this list, but I went
through quite a time with my hive this year.  First year package
bees.  They swarmed in late July (bad) and I captured the swarm (good), but
both hives went queenless (bad) so I re-queened (good) but they killed them
both (bad) but managed to re-queen one (good) and combined both hives a
week later (good).  However, they lost a good 5 weeks of laying so the hive
was weakened.  Add to that that our summers are cool and foggy and the bees
didn't have much of a chance to forage.  Plus it's so damp, chalkbrood has
been a problem.  They seemed to be doing GREAT a few weeks ago, but
obviously are stressed, so I'm not at all surprised that some new hideous
thing has struck.  This has sure been a hard year for a beginning
beekeeper.  No honey for me either - the bees have about 40lbs for the
winter (usual for this area which has mild, though very wet, winters).  Bleah.
But I'll be taking a peek for the wax moths when the sun gets out to warm
the bees...

Julia