Finding Drones & Larva

This afternoon we went out to see the bees and found this hollow larva lying below the hive. I wonder if more experience would tell me what the dead larva signs mean or if it will always be a mystery. 

I told the boys that drones can't sting.

So when we found a half-a-dozen crawling under the hive, we coaxed them into our hands and enjoyed them close up. The boys got a kick out of being able to handle the bees.

Mini Inspection

I saw one dead larva at the entrance of the hive in the morning. I wasn't planning to get in the hive this weekend, but decided it best to make a quick look before heading out of town.

It was good to get in too, because we were able to get the camera dried out and back in focus. The weather the past week has been all rain and more is in the forecast. We raised the back of the hive so that moisture wouldn't be to blame for more dead larva. Speaking of the legs of the hive, I haven't noticed ants in the hive since I greased up the legs.

The quarter-patty inside was about one-quarter consumed, but no bees were currently eating it.

I didn't dress in a full suit, just a light colored top, taped pant cuffs, gloves and a veil, though I found it easier to fix the camera without gloves.

We videoed the short inspection. I pulled bar #8 up and we found capped brood and capped honey:

(close-up) 

bar #9 was found with open honey:

bar #10 was 1/4 new comb:

and bar #11 was empty. I did see another larva out of the cell but still on the comb edge, but later realized that the wax had torn from the side wall. There were a lot of drone roaming the comb - they're huge! There are still a lot of yellow-orange bees in the hive.

Dead Larva!

Clear skies, 48 degrees.

I went out at 8:30 am. There was little activity.

A few bees were at the entrance with this larva. The larva was not chalky, but was squishy.

I opened the cover and found several ants on the bars again. I would sweep them off and several more would quickly emerge. I swept about 10 strokes before the ants quit emerging. I took four bars out from the back of the hive for this photo.

The syrup feeder was almost empty.  I replaced it with syrup from earlier mixed batches (about 2s:1w). I had to scrape up a mess of crumby-syrup (see upper-right). There were about 6 bees drowning in the mess. I didn't have the best tools for the job, so I scraped it into a pile and put most on the plywood board with the camera attached. Also found larva (see lower-left). This larva was also not chalky, but wet and squishy.

The mess is located in the back of the hive on the south side. The hive leans to the southwest. The crumby-syrup mess smells like rotten candy. I did not add the new patty, because the last one looks untouched. Perhaps they don't need the patties any longer? The colony is barely two weeks old.