I have a colony that is showing deformed wings...on drones. The ground in
front of the hive is littered with dead and dying drones...all with
shriveled wings. Strange thing about these drones is that they are all
white...except for their eyes, which are normal.
On May 26th I inspected the colony. That is when I first noticed the white
drones. These white drones were hatching by themselves. They must be dying
as fast as they hatch, because I could find no live white drones in the hive.
I returned on June 13, and the same thing was going on. This time I took
some photographs, and collected a few of the drones. I placed them on the
"hump" in my truck. Two days later, the white drones had darkened to near
normal color.
What's happening here. It looks as if they are just hatching too early. I
could find no varroa in the drone brood.
Mike