This frame is from a hive that has not been inspected for a year, give or take. Bees were calm but population vastly reduced. No queen found, no evidence of any queen cells, no eggs, no larvae. Some capped brood. Hive was constructed of one western on the bottom where the capped brood was found, and a deep on top where this frame and many like it were found. We removed the deep do to the lack of population. So, no queen and I suspect mite issues.
My question revolves around the white capped cells along the bottom and extending upward through the middle. When I stuck a toothpick in, the substance came out dry and chalky. There is a great deal of white pollen in this hive, but these cells were capped. At first I was worried about some form of brood disorder, but looking back, I wonder if it was some form of capped sugar or dense syrup? There is evidence of crystalized syrup in other areas of this hive and in the 2nd hive that shares it's space.
Just wondering what you might think?
(http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/1911/upshivefunkyframes02.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/upshivefunkyframes02.jpg/)
Alicia H
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There is capped brood, so there was a queen less than 3 weeks ago. The hive has maintained a queen for a year. Why would the queen disappear at the same time you did an inspection? That's too much of a coincidence. Did you do the inspection because there was reduced hive activity?
Chances are that your queen is from feral stock and is taking a break from laying. Or you had a swarm and there is now a virgin queen or newly mated queen in place. Unless there was some other change you haven't mentioned, I'll bet you do have a queen in there. You didn't remove her with the bottom deep did you?
Chalk brood? Honey caps turn a darker color with age and some of these can be seen in your photo. These white caps are something else. I don't think sugar syrup would look different from honey caps.
Looks like you have open brood in the low left just below the capped honey??
I really like camera's, they see much better than my old and newbie Keeper eyes :)
Tommyt
did you take any other picture that are a little more front on? i do see some older brood at the bottom, but there appear to be some chewed and sunken capped cells. maybe that's where you stuck them? :-D
This hive, and it's neighbor, are both on the roof of a building at a local private college. They belong to the biology group. What's interesting is the biology group are not beekeepers, so a member of the college's bee club has stepped up to care for them. He's a newbee, so had asked for help in the inspection.
What's interesting is that it looks like someone has been in both hives. The bottom boards had been cleaned off, but the evidence was left on a work table, where we found lots of varroa. It also looks like whoever had been caring for the hives would add extra boxes indescrimanately without regard to how much space was still available in the existing deeps or westerns.
The deep we removed from this hive was actually on top of the western with the capped brood. We removed it because there just weren't enough bees in the box to support the space. In fact, the bees were leaving the deep alone.
No the holes are not from me, I only polked one cell.
Here are the only two other pictures I took, they may be different frames, though.
(http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3293/upshivefunkyframes01.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/upshivefunkyframes01.jpg/)
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(http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5107/upshivefunkyframes03.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/13/upshivefunkyframes03.jpg/)
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