Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1876 — Bee Moth—A Singular Case. [ARTICLE]

Bee Moth—A Singular Case.

In July and August, after the motliworms have formed their cocoons, and have come forth winged millers these millers remain inactive by day, but soon after sunset they may be seen flying around hives, being attracted by the odor of the combs, and seeking an entrance. If the families of bees are so strong that a portion of them cluster upon the outside of the hives, the millers are generally kept out of the hives by the bees; but weak families are in danger of being destroyed by them—not directly by millers, hut by the new crop of worms that now come forth by the hundreds from the eggs of the millers. They grow rapidly, and when they find combs un protected they take possession of them; and unless destroyed they soon spread over the entire hive, leaving for a while a comb or two free to the few inactive bees that remain in it. The indications of the existence of moth-worms, to a dangerous extent, are a deposit on the bottom boards of the hives resembling ground coffee, and when these deposits are seen the hives should be examined immediately, the infested comb cut out, and the worms destroyed. If there are a quart of bees remaining it may be best to leave a comb or two, and nurse them along by feeding, if one has but few bees, and is desirous of an increase; but in most cases, when a family of bees has been partially destroyed by moths, it is best to cut out the entire combs, and let the bees take their chances for life among the non-infested families. I will now relate a very singular act of bees, showing the wonderful knowledge that they possess. When I first commenced bee-keeping I bad a hive that became badly infested by moths, and as I was away from home by day, 1 had not noticed the great number of millers and worms that were in it; but the family of bees that occupied a stand near the infested hive, about eighteen inches from it, hail seen what was going on “ next, door,” and the bees took measures to protect themselves as follows: The hives were both raised three-eights of an inch from their stands, leaving an opening of this width on all sides of them; ana when I discovered that the hive was infested by motlis, the strong family was engaged in walling up the open space to their hive, on the side next to the infested one, with propolis, a kind of glue that bees use to fill up cracks and crevices. Five hundred bees were engaged in building this wall, working in military order, and had succeeded in nearly closing up the entire opening on the one side, when I discovered the situation of things, and I immediately removed the infested hive some rods away, and in ten minutes every worker in propolis had left its work, having discovered that the cause of danger was removed.-*-?!. B. Miner, in Country Gentleman,