Gordon Hayes wrote: >What I did find in most of the dead hives on at least two frames each >puzzled me as a fairly new beekeeper. I found clusters of what appeared = >to be white eggs about the size of the end of a number 2 lead pencil = >scatted over the frames and in the cells. Have you ever had an = >experience with this phenomenon? If so what is it's cause? Could the 'eggs' be the pupal cases of the tiny flies that sometimes live on the dead remains of bees in colonies that have died-out? These are very common here in the UK. Where the dead bees in the cluster have not yet dried out, the fly larvae -looking like tiny maggots- may also be present. The adult flies don't seem to remain in the hive. James -- ___________________________________________________________________________ James Morton South-Eastern Regional Bee Inspector Central Science Laboratory National Bee Unit Tel/fax: +44(0)20 8571 6450 Mobile: 07719 924 418 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Web: http://www.csl.gov.uk Address: 'Geertje', Canal Lock 92, Windmill Lane, Southall, Middx, UB2 4NH ___________________________________________________________________________ Disclaimer The information contained in this message may include privileged, proprietary or confidential information. Please treat it with the same respect that you would expect for your own information. If you have received it in error, we apologise, and ask that you contact the CSL sender immediately and erase it from your computer. Thank you for your co-operation. Further information on confidentiality of our communications, can be found at http://www.csl.gov.uk/email.htm