White scales on bottom of bee abdomen

[SD2522]

Good evening all,
This evening I was inspecting a newly boxed swarm and happened to notice what appeared to be white scales peeling off the bottom of bee abdomens toward the rear of the bee on the underside only. I noticed this on several bees, there is no dead bees anywhere, brood/eggs all look good, honey being stored. These bees are being fed and I have noticed a great deal of white flakes below the hive (that have fallen below the ssb) which I thought were just wax cappings. Has anyone else observed anything similar or is this anything I should be concerned about??? Thank you for any insight!

[DRUR]

Surely you jest?:popcorn:

If you are not joking go to this thread
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221546&highlight=Wax+Scales

[SD2522]

Haha... I did figure it out.. I have never seen wax to that extent on a bee (some are literally covered). I threw a frame full of honey in this hive from another as food since they're newly swarmed and apparently they are covered in cappings.

[DRUR]

You need to throw some empty frames in there, Frames which have not been drawn out yet.

Daniel

[SD2522]

There are.. they have about 4 frames of a lower deep drawn out and have a full second 10 frame deep on top of that all undrawn. I've been feeding them 1:1 sugar syrup and threw a frame of honey in the middle of the top deep. I think the cappings from above fell down onto the bees in the lower box. Between the wax on their wax glands and all over the top of them it just appeared abnormal. This is my first year keeping bees so I'm trying to stay ahead of things and still learning what is normal and what is not. I appreciate your feedback and patience.