@Eva, I can’t see anything in the link that you included, that mentions that DE is harmful to bees. It is also from a company advertising it’s own DE product, and is not a research paper on DE, nor does it even mention whether it is harmful to bees. I’d rather see something that’s an unbiased article, sorry. Also @KSJ, putting DE in the flue tray would be safe, as the bees can not access the flue tray, only small pests can do so, so actually it would be safe to put DE in it.
It sounds cruel. I know it’s practical and I use it but I feel terrible for inflicting a slow death.
Ah Jeff, the old index finger technique. In recent days I’ve used it myself. It’s very effective at squashing SHB and their lavae.
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I set my tray up against the barn and shoot it with a high-pressure hose nozzle. Then wipe down, scrub, and dry with clean rags or paper towels.
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I know we find yucky stuff in our trays. But this morning I had a moment where I was just in awe of all the beautiful pollen for a moment. So many colors! (There’s plenty in the comb too, of course. They are bringing it in like mad!) Call me crazy but I felt a little bit like a proud mama admiring my girls’ pollen-artwork splattered all over that tray … before I cleaned it all off of course.
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Yes @IanA , I inspect and clean out my bee hive tray every second day or so. I do this by wiping it out with paper towel and then rinsing it out. Every now and then I give it a light spray of bleach and rinse, and either wipe it dry with paper towel or put it in the sun to dry. My bees are pretty spoilt. Oh yes, and I take pictures of the tray to keep a log of seasonal changes 
Is anyone distinctly aware of what these crawly things are? Located Northern Rivers NSW, Australia. I thought they must be wax moth but the grubs are so big, it was incredible. I’d never seen them so large.
Soldier fly larvae maybe?
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Hi Bianca, I agree with @chau06 , they do look like BSFL (black soldier fly larvae). Soldier flies love anything to do with beehives, especially if it’s wet. I think I’m almost an expert on soldier flies.
This video shows my worm farm that turned into a black soldier fly farm.
You get an idea from the first video why I put all the bricks on the ply so that the larvae would come out in one corner in this next video.
cheers
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Awesome! I think that’s a definite correct answer.
Thanks team.
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Oh yuck! My worm farm turned into a soldier fly farm and it was totally disgusting! I like worms, but this was something else!
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I understand what you’re saying Claire. It seems that Black Soldier Flies are gaining in popularity. People are breeding them specifically to feed to chooks, as well as fish food in aquaponics. Would you believe that they breed them in such big numbers to be able to convert their oil content into bio-fuel, with the remainder turned into animal food. They might be a good source of protein for humans into the future.
Put 'em on a skewer, brush with a little olive oil, and throw 'em on the barbie!
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That sounds almost tempting Claire. Ask @Dawn_SD what Wilma & I do with bee (mostly drone) larvae Mainly me, poor Wilma just went along with it.
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Hah! I’m afraid to ask, but I was thinking that a little garlic butter might be nice…
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We cooked them in a variety of dishes, but we made it so they were mostly disguised. I did it to show that it can be done, which in reality is a good way to use unwanted drone brood, which is a good source of clean eco-friendly protein & amino acid. It comes out of a pristine environment. It’s raised on royal jelly, honey & pollen, so it must be good.
The Japanese call bee & wasp larvae “Hachinoko”.
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Jeff has a very nice video of him making bee larva fritters for himself, Wilma and I think Wilma’s Dad. The quote from Dad was, “Fit for a King!” and he looked like he meant it. 
Just found it. Here you are, in case you are interested…
Doesn’t look like the taste test was in that one. There must be another one somewhere! 
Here it is!!!
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I love it! Very impressive and Jeff is an excellent cook!
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Thanks Dawn, I think this is the one with Wilma’s dad, who is no longer with us. He was always a willing participant with my cooking escapades. He had a saying with me “always try anything once”, or something similar. He used to enjoy my fish head curries, he’d say “the eyes have it”, then laugh.
Thank you @claire_c also.
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Hi again Dawn, thanks for posting the second video. We made that video during a period when I was using foundationless frames as a swarm prevention strategy. Needless to say that due to the demand for nucs, I’m no longer using that strategy. As a strategy, it worked really well. Sometimes the bees would build 100% worker comb, naturally I’d leave them in the hive.
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