"Mr William L Hughs Jr" Wrote 20 Jan 96
>Subject:      Re: Saw dust in front of hive
>When I inspected my colonies today one of the had what appeared to be
>sawdust.  It was like wet wood mixed with yellow flakes.  It was
>nearly blocking the entrance and was on the ground in front of the
>hive.  My other colonies do not have this.  This is my first winter
>keeping bees and I have not send a reference to this in any of the
>books I have.  Does anyone have any ideas what this might be, and do
>I need to be concerned.
 
        Just a guess , but I have seen and heard on warm winter days, (about
Freezing Point), little piles of saw Dust beside old logs and a chewing
sound coming from the wood. With close inspection, directly above the saw
dust were small holes (about 1/16"). There were small wood grubs of some
sort in there chewing up the wood and pushing it out. It would in turn leave
a small pile of wood on the snow below the hole. if you are quiet for a
minute they will start chewing agian ,it is loud for a little bug. Maybe
this will help.
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