Hatching Brood VERRY ODD

[Velbert]

To day I was looking at a few MH checking for laying Queens and I came across a frame that in a 3 inch patch of all hatching worker brood all the capping were gone and all the workers were turning heads a wiggling trying to get out of the cells I thought WOW neat to see all of them hatching all at the same time and as i watch I seen that none were climbing out just turning heads and trying when I noticed that the comb around them had been partly tore down. SO I tried to help some of the workers out they were STUCK they came apart trying to get them out When I did get some out they had cocoon Stuck to them. What I then realized was that is why the other workers were tearing down the comb to get them out. I also have seen spot every once in a while that the comb was all tore down to the mid ridge and I am wondering if this was what happened THERE.

[JBJ]

which picture are we supposed to be looking at?

[George Fergusson]

Sounds like wax moth. I've read about and seen pictures of wax moth damage of the sort you describe though I've never personally seen it. The book "Honey Bee Pests, Predators, and Diseases" by Roger Morse describes it and has a picture: "Honey bees that died of galleriasis during emergence from brood cells. The bees were unable to to leave their cells after completing development, because they were tethered to the comb by their abodomens with silken threads spun by small Galleria mellonella larvae."

[Velbert]

Thanks George. I seen a few new bees on the same comb they looked OK guess the workers must have cleaned them off.


Didn't have my camera to get any pictures Going to keep it in the truck in-case I ever come across it again.

[Michael Bush]

Achroia grisella, lesser wax moths are usually the cause of this symptom.

[naturebee]

Achroia grisella, lesser wax moths are usually the cause of this symptom.

Ye, I will side with the waxworm diagnosis. But I have also seen PMS cause honeybees to get stuck in cells, and the timing is right for this.

State Apiarist Dennis van Engelsdorp taught me a neat trick.
Shake the bees off the frame, while holding the frame tap on the side of the top bar with your hive tool. If waxworm are present, they will exit the comb and try and escape.

Joe Waggle ~ Derry, PA
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries'
FeralBeeProject.com

[Dave W]

Lesser Wax Moth (Achroia grisella) adult is silver-gray to buff-colored, about 3/16 to 1/2” long w/ a wingspread of about 13/16". Wings overlap slightly at tip when at rest. Cocoons are about 1/2" long and are generally densely covered w/ frass (insect excrement or debris) [Ref 13, p385]. Its head is conspicuously orange-yellow, and is common in parts of Pacific Northwest [Ref 2, p202].

[Dan Williamson]

To day I was looking at a few MH checking for laying Queens and I came across a frame that in a 3 inch patch of all hatching worker brood all the capping were gone and all the workers were turning heads a wiggling trying to get out of the cells I thought WOW neat to see all of them hatching all at the same time and as i watch I seen that none were climbing out just turning heads and trying when I noticed that the comb around them had been partly tore down. SO I tried to help some of the workers out they were STUCK they came apart trying to get them out When I did get some out they had cocoon Stuck to them. What I then realized was that is why the other workers were tearing down the comb to get them out. I also have seen spot every once in a while that the comb was all tore down to the mid ridge and I am wondering if this was what happened THERE.

Its wax moths.... I had the same exact thing in a couple of weaker queen mating nucs last week. There were about 50 bees doing the same things.. I was looking at the frame wondering why they weren't climbing out of the cells and all of the sudden a white worm about 1/2" popped out of one of the cells. It was immediately attacked and stung by a bee. I added another frame of bees to the nuc and went back a few days later and everything was perfectly normal. If you pull one of those wiggling bees out they are usually deformed or injured on the lower half of their body. At least in my case. My guess is the worm burrowed thru the cell sometime in their development.

I had a hive that I kept noticing was uncapping sealed brood. The eyes were purple but the rest of the body was white.... They were older larvae not newly sealed... I kept wondering about it and kept checking on it. I was looking at a frame of it and a white worm again fell out of one of the cells when I was inspecting. Sure enough... it was a weaker hive just getting going and as soon as the hive was stronger no more issues. I haven't seen it since that worm fell out until I saw it this week in a queenless mating nuc.