I inspected my hive today in an attempt to do a sugar roll test for varroa
On opening the hive I found this larvae sitting on the top of the frames… I hope it is a drone larvae the girls wanted to reject for winter? Could it be that? I see a few drone cells on the brood frames ! I really hope it’s nothing worse than that…EFB? But it should be smelly in the hive right?
As for the sugar roll, I found it really hard to ‘scoop’ up the bees! I tried but I don’t think there were 100, but prob 50 got into the jar- rookie! You tubers make it look easy!
No mites when I shook out the sugar. But I think I found one on the slide in tray on the bottom board at the end when I took it out. (Before opening the hive I took it out and cleared it off, so it was a new arrival) here is the photo see if you can spot it if you zoom in. Can’t see legs but I’m sure it’s the body shape
I agree with @Dee, it is a bee larva and varroa. Can’t tell whether it is male or not, but it doesn’t look obviously unhealthy. As you say, the bees may have decided it is time to get rid of the drones, or it may have fallen out of a broken piece of comb when the frames were lifted.
I use the method developed by the University of Minnesota. I shake the frame of bees onto a strip of aluminium roofing flashing (about 45 x 30 cm) which has a crease in the middle. I then just tip them into my Gizmo measuring cup, dump them into the jar, add sugar and wait. They slide off the flashing very easily. Takes less than 2 minutes, plus the wait time for the sugar to coat the bees properly.
There is a learning curve. The first time I did a mite count, it took an hour or so, and I was totally stressed out by the end! Now it is quick, easy and even the bees don’t seem to mind the free lunch of powdered sugar.
I tried but I don’t think there were 100, but prob 50 got into the jar- rookie! You tubers make it look easy!
