# Hygienic behavior?



## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

Your description is consistent with hygienic brood removal. My experience is that this trait alone is insufficient for bees to survive and thrive. If you checked for chewed mites and found both chewed mites and evidence of infested brood being removed, then it is probable the colony has enough mite tolerance to survive without treatments.


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## Notapro (Dec 16, 2014)

FP, thanks for the reply! I have a screened bottom and can slide a greased sheet under them to see if I can get some mites to inspect. Got a nifty little microscope that is about 50 hrs old which will be perfect for looking them over. I will try that and see if I can find any chewed up mites. Thanks a lot for the suggestion, I really appreciate the advice.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Notapro said:


> They were carrying a larva that was just prior to the purple eye stage that had deformed wings. I saw another bee carry out a larva a few minute later as well that appeared to have deformed wings.


Do bees have wings prior to the purple eye stage? You may well be seeing hygienic behavior, but not DWV in that pupa.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, but it is not a full wing yet just in development.
And still mushy looking. This depends on what stage of the
development process the larva is in.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, but it is not a full wing yet just in development.
And still mushy looking. This depends on what stage of the
development process the larva is in.


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## Notapro (Dec 16, 2014)

FP, i put a sticky board under the screened bottom board yesterday afternoon. I took a magnifying glass out this afternoon and could only find one mite. Put it under the microscope and there was a small piece of the shell missing on one side and when I turned it over there were no legs to be seen! There were nubs where the legs should have been but not a single leg on this mite. 

I made a split from this hive on 3/30 and saw the queen this afternoon. I also caught a large swarm from this hive on Sunday. Assuming the new queen in the original hive gets mated and returns I should have 3 queens from these genetics. I will monitor them through the summer to see how they do.


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## nolefan1985 (Mar 23, 2016)

I am very interested in what you have found. I am in Jefferson County just east of Tallahassee and very much want to keep bees as organically a possible here in the northern part of the state.


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