Hello Robert and Everyone,

I observed the same change in behavior and took a few photos of the comb
and debris in trays below a screened bottom board. I had hoped to provide
better photo documentation this year but those hives that were almost
overwhelmed with mites last year had very few mites as I posted here on
bee-l. I could not find enough of this cleansing behavior to document
with pictures this year.

Your observations are valuable and don't need to be quantified or
validated by anyone. Keep us posted on what you see.

Best Wishes
Dennis

>After downsizing, both showed quantities of bald
brood. I didn't dig around in the comb to see what was going on, but
based on the reports of others who've seen the same thing in small cell
colonies,  I believe it to be a response to the presence of foreign
organisms like mites or wax moth larvae in the cells. Consistent with
this, I found that
a large proportion of the mites falling out were transparent immatures,
all  bearing bite marks. I've never seen this before.

>     This is all very unquantified and unscientific