Thanks.  It probably is chilled brood.  The temperature has been deceptively
warm, then cool (central California), and yes, I was poking around in the
hive, checking to see if they had eaten their antibiotic patties, seeing
how things were going, removing the entrance reducers (just about the time
a cold windstorm hit, too).  We've been having deceptively yo-yo-ing
temperatures (though not as extreme as the East Coast).   One week, it's
warm and sunny, and the next there is snow on the mountains and the
temperature has fallen dramatically.
 
I know chalk brood, and no, this doesn't look like it, so it's probably the
chill factor.  I wonder if the viable pupae might just be some of the
brood workers got confused, and pulled out all the pupae in a section, with
a few viable ones included.  There weren't many of the live ones.  It
looks like this discarding has stopped, now, so I hope it was just I went
poking in the hive at the wrong time.  I'm crossing my fingers.
 
  Jane Beckman  [[log in to unmask]]