I visited two different beeyards in the last week. Each had one colony (of
more than one) that showed similar symptoms. The bees were uncapping a
large number of older, well-formed larva and removing them from the cells.
Both of these colonies have a rather heavy mite load. In each case, the
neophyte beekeeper asked me to visit after finding the dead larva on the
bottom board and in front of the hive. I have seen bees removing brood from
cells before, but have thought it due to mites visible on the brood. On
these ejected brood there were no visible mites.
What I found interesting is that each of these colonies was started this
year on foundation and the bees came from the same source. I am curious
about the cause. Is this a result of the source of the bees? A virus
vectored by the mites? The latter is a suspicion because there were also
signs of DWV. I would appreciate any thoughts?
Larry Krengel
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