I got a call from a tree trimmer this morning. they'd dropped a big sycamore & discovered the hard way that there was a hive in it. after exposing the hive I was about to starting installing the comb into frames but noticed that all the brood areas in the comb was covered with very small larva. it looked too small ( 1/8" long & thin as thread ) to be small hive beetle larva but playing it safe I discarded all of the comb. it was a small hive so I vacuumed up the few bees there were & put them into a nuc & isolated them from any other hives until I can do a mite count. if they're ok i'll combine them with another hive. since the tree had just been dropped which gave the hive a pretty good jolt could the larva have been early bee larva that had been knocked out of their cells?
It's possible, what were they acting like? SHB are very animated, trying to get away from the light, likewise for moth larvae.
these way too small for wax moths & 1 fourth of the typical size of s.h.b larva.. also s.h.b. larva have a dark head. these did not which is why I'm wondering whether they were dislodged bee larva. there were a lot of them & they were only on frames where there was brood. I would have taken photos but I was knee deep in a creek & fetching the camera required a hike up a steep & slippery creek bank.
I still would suspect shb..... maybe not?
that's why I chucked the comb. there was a very happy coon or skunk last night. thing is though, I did not see a single small hive beetle in this hive.
that sounds like a keeper.
did you find the queen?