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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