Bee larva in bottom of hive

did you check to make sure they have enough stores??

An occasional larvae at the bottom is normal. More than one or two is not normal. Something is tearing down the larvae. It could be worker bees cleaning out diseased brood, or it could be a predator.

They currently are occupying 4 frames and I have a 1:2 ratio of sugar water. I am afraid the colony is struggling to build itself up quick enough. The books that I have read say nothing about this and the internet has about 5 different things it could be. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Can you get pics of the frames of brood?
How long has the hive been there?

Do they have pollen ? J

Where are you located? Have you had a recent cold spell where brood died because of lack of bee coverage to keep them warm? They may also be drone brood being destroyed if they are not that strong of a colony, which might indicate queen failing. Sometimes the old queen will swarm with smaller amount of bees when a colony replaces her with a new queen because the old queen was failing. That last pic looks like drone pupae to me.

Bee2good said:

There is plenty of clover and honeysuckle in full bloom in St. Louis MO. The bees are coming back with pollen baskets, since week one. I have had the hive for 4 weeks and everything looked to be going well until yesterday. I did find a wood roach in the hive today while inspecting. Here are some pictures of the frams and bees. Thank you for all of your help!

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It looks to me that they built drone comb between the top of the frames and the inner cover. If so, finding some drone pupae would be expected when it gets torn open when the inner cover is removed.

Alex

Lack if capped brood worries me....

RNSwans said:

Lack if capped brood worries me....

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You and me both. I couldn't find the queen today either . I was reviewing my books and don't see any queen cells on the frames. The last time I saw the queen was week 2.

do you have another hive? If so it may be worth dropping a frame with some eggs in there to see if they draw a queen cell

elmer_fud said:

do you have another hive? If so it may be worth dropping a frame with some eggs in there to see if they draw a queen cell

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This is my first hive, the plan was to expand to a second one next year.

I’d treat for mites, if you haven’t already. Most of the “larva” in those fist pics look like pupae and pre-pupae, meaning they were uncapped and removed from the cell. They are also nice and pearly white. That’s atypical of a brood disease and usually indicative of PMS (Parasitic Mite Syndrome). Since it is a small hive, my only other guess would be wax moths, but if it was bad enough that you had pupae getting pulled, I suspect you’d have had different questions in your first post, as the moth larvae would likely be visible moving about the hive.

Bee2good said:

You and me both. I couldn't find the queen today either . I was reviewing my books and don't see any queen cells on the frames. The last time I saw the queen was week 2.

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I can't see any eggs, but the frames are not oriented right to really say. Have you seen any eggs or very young brood?

AHudd said:

It looks to me that they built drone comb between the top of the frames and the inner cover. If so, finding some drone pupae would be expected when it gets torn open when the inner cover is removed.

Alex

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Alex,

I think you were correct it was drone pupae. I do not have any more pupae on the bottom of my hive. The bees are very active and seem to be doing good. Appreciate you sharing your knowledge!