Piles of brown chaff on bottom tray?

[eyrich]

Howdy- 

Brand new at bee keeping in Northern Vermont- thanks for all the help and sharing of knowledge I have seen on the site! 

I have 2 hives that i started with Nucs from a local supplier this spring.   I put a mite screen and tray at the bottom of the hive and the bees are dropping what looks like brown sawdust and wax flakes on the tray.  At first it was minor but I checked a few days ago and in the three days since I had emptied it one hive had a pile well over an inch high and three inches wide running the length of the hive under one of the frames.  Do the bees dismantle old comb?  The nuc frames we were given seemed quite old and used, holes in the comb etc.. 

Also found a small hive beetle on last inspection.  I have read a little on the site about the traps folks are using- is there a source for them?  Thanks!

eyrich stauffer

[JP]

Before you even mentioned you saw a shb this is what I was thinking. You start seeing what you desccribe when shb sets in, better check each frame.


...JP

[Scadsobees]

SHB larvae produce brown "chaff" type stuff, and the bees will start tearing into the comb to get to the larvae that are burrowing in the comb.

[Rex]

When I pulled out my plastic bottom board yesterday, I saw something similar to this.  In addition, I found worms in the sawdust/chaff.  They were whitish in color and ranged in size from 10 mm to about about 2 cm.  They looked like the wax worms I feed to my gecko.

I killed as many as I could, cleaned the board and sprayed it with Pam.  Now I'm going to do a mite count.

I'm concerned for my bees  :shock:

[poka-bee]

Can you feed the worms to your gecko??  Might make you feel a little better :evil:  I give craneflys & those big spiders that come into the house to my fish...they LOVE them &go all wild kingdom frenzy!  The krebensis get so excited they get all colorful!  Jody

[JP]

Can you feed the worms to your gecko??  Might make you feel a little better :evil:  I give craneflys & those big spiders that come into the house to my fish...they LOVE them &go all wild kingdom frenzy!  The krebensis get so excited they get all colorful!  Jody

Boy, its just amazing at the amount of lizards that show up when you put in a few hives or a bunch. They seem to come outta the woodworks! Lizards everywhere! I just love 'em!


...JP

[eyrich]

Thanks for the info-

I'll take a close look at each frame for shb. 

I also found three big relatively gross larvae on the tray today- about an inch long, all together, and in a spidery web wrap.  They don't look like the shb larvae in the pics I've seen- any thoughts on these suckers?- no lizards here in VT to feed them to.

Eyrich

[JP]

Thanks for the info-

I'll take a close look at each frame for shb. 

I also found three big relatively gross larvae on the tray today- about an inch long, all together, and in a spidery web wrap.  They don't look like the shb larvae in the pics I've seen- any thoughts on these suckers?- no lizards here in VT to feed them to.

Eyrich

That's waxmoth, and you better get in there and do what you can to save this hive if indeed its not already too late. If you have more woodenware and frames you may consider transferring the bees to the new set up. Check and see if you have a queen.

Also check this out: http://www.beeworks.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18


...JP