Hey everybody,
I got deep into all of the hives last weekend. 4 look good, lots of brood, happy bees. Then I got into the last hive that has been a wee bit pissy. They have some weird looking brood. I did not see a queen but there is definitely signs of laying. They are short on population, but still flying very dry, I have some honey out open feeding for all the hives, but think I'll supplement this weekend with some sugar water on top of this hive. Everything here is blooming too so if the weather stops getting cold there should be lots of resources. I"m not sure if they'll make it. Not sure if they are just weak or sick. Like I said, looks weird to me.
I haven't seen this before, it's like they aren't capping the cells once the larvae starts to pupate? (I think that is the word, highschool biology was way too long ago.) I considered foulbrood, but the caps that are there don't look sunken enough. I didn't think to do the string test at the time, don't know why.
The top 2 pics show the weird uncapped pupae that almost look like bee butts. The bottom is the same hive one frame over. You can see there are eggs. Even though it looks healthier, that frame still felt weird. The brood was creamier(?) pinker(?) I couldn't put my finger on it, it just still didn't look right. In any case, what do you think?
thanks for any help!
ziffa