While inspecting my weakest hive, a small swarm I'm nursing along, I encountered something I have never seen before (during this my first year of beekeeping). There were a number of worker cells among capped brood that were uncapped. The pupae were well developed with the bodies still white and the eyes a light purple. It was strange seeing the white bodies with the purple eyes staring out of the comb. Other factors that might be relevant. This hive has a low level of varroa mites. I encountered and destroyed two large wax moth caterpillars. My guess is that the moth caterpillars ate the caps. (A side note relating to a previous post. The caterpillar feces found in some of cells I inspected look like coffee grounds.) Anyone have and knowledge or ideas about the cause of the uncapped pupae. Thanks, Jim Moore [log in to unmask]