White wax fragments on base board

Beekeeping - Basics
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Hi all.

Its winter in canberra at present and temps getting very cold. Over the last few months I’ve noticed a lot of wax residue on my base board. Wondering if any body could assist. Its too cold to have a look inside.

Thanks Geoff i

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The only time I saw wax residue was after bees cleaned up SHB damage. The good news was that the bees cleaned it up & didn’t allow the beetles to continue doing any more damage.

I know that SHB & cold weather don’t go hand in hand, however inside a hive is a different story. If the beetles are in the hive & they have an opportunity to lay eggs in some unprotected brood, dead bees or pollen, they’ll do so.

That’s the only answer I have, sorry.

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Whenever they uncap stores to eat them the cappings fall to the bottom.

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Thanks very much Jeff, hopefully it’s nothing to worry about. I guess I’ll find out come spring.

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It sounds like what @Michael_Bush said is the likely answer. That makes a lot of sense. I don’t use screens or boards. Plus we enjoy a honey flow basically all year round, so most of the decapping is a result of my steam knife & not within the hive.

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Thanks Michael. That makes sense.

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Geoff,

I get lines of debris just under each frame. I see clear n/or yellow wax flakes. I see cappings n colorful pollen as well. The debris lines tell me much what’s happening above.

Yesterday I was going to do hive inspects. I
like pulling the SBB sliders out before actually opening the hive to see if my lower Obs match the health or lack of above. Pulling the Cedar Hive I saw little debris on the board left to right (frame lines 1 thru 7 … 8 thru 10 was a darker line of dumpings about 1/2" deep. It had been couple weeks because of wet, cool weather … So my weekly was a 14 dayer !
Opening the top n removing the crown board … No bees … Then using the old hive tool I cracked the poporlis seal n darn only bees in the left three frames. This hive is close to Die-out … I don’t have an extra Queen plus not enough bees to make it worth it. Been thinking of a small merge … Might do that still.

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