One of my hives has been queen less for three weeks and now has laying workers. I took both deeps about a hundred yards away and dumped the bees out on the grass and after an hour they seemed to drift into the other hives without too much trouble. While I was doing this I noticed 5 of the 20 frames had sections of the frame ripped out like the weak hive was trying to rid itself of some disease. Everything else seemed normal including the smell. Not sure if I should just throw these frames out or use them again next season when I re-queen. Hopefully, the photos show the damage. Thanks
http://img188.imageshack.us/i/img0985c.jpg/
http://img70.imageshack.us/i/img0972s.jpg/
http://img34.imageshack.us/i/img0975p.jpg/
they will do that to rip out mold and stuff. it's hard to tell from those pics. doesn't look like the ripping out from robbing.
can you get some that are closer and look down on the cells?
What does your other hive look like ?
On Aug.7,09 you posted, a local bee disease was present in your area of Connecticut, any connection ?
Bee-Bop
That first photo looks sort of like wax moth to me. Can't be sure.
I took some better photos. I can see a fine webbing coming from these areas, It's only present on 4 frames. If it is wax moths, should I freeze the frames to kill the eggs before storing them for the winter.
http://img196.imageshack.us/i/img0989vd.jpg/
http://img196.imageshack.us/i/img0991h.jpg/
http://img156.imageshack.us/i/img0993e.jpg/
http://img42.imageshack.us/i/img0994i.jpg/
http://img515.imageshack.us/i/img0995w.jpg/
yup. freeze them. freeze all of them even if you don't see the evidence of wax moth.
I started freezing the deeps to stop the damage of the wax moths. How long do the frames need to be in frozen for? I can only fit so many frames in at one time. It's amazing how much damage the wax moth can do in one day now that the bees are gone.
Usually when they tear out comb it's because of the wax moths...