# Small white worm / Blackish capped honey / No mites?



## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

It's pretty difficult to spot mites on bees during an inspection. If it's at the point where you are seeing them on the bees, the colony may already be in serious trouble. I would suggest doing periodic sugar shakes to monitor your mite levels. 

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223018&highlight=powdered+sugar+shake+mite


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## wkinne (Jul 17, 2010)

I have seen these same white worms on the tops of my frames here in Michigan, I have no idea what they are and am looking forward to one of the gurus here identifing them.







wkinne


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## cwyse (May 29, 2010)

I'm guessing wax moth larvae. I think that they are kept at a low level as long as the hive is healthy. I don't think that there is anything to do, other than freeze the honey when you harvest.

Chris


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## PCM (Sep 18, 2007)

I would guess that the caps are darkend by Bee tracks, they are like kids, they don't always wipe their feet before entering ! :doh:

PCM


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

Also, when bees store honey in combs that have been used for brood rearing, the darkened comb makes the honey look darker. Also, it seems like there is a slight air gap between the honey in the cell and the capping when it is first capped, but after time, the capping ends up in contact with the honey, making the capping appear darker.

And then as stated before, travel stains can darken cappings too.


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## lulubee (Apr 14, 2010)

If you have SHB it most likely is the SHB larvae hatching and moving/dropping to the ground. In early August I discovered SHB in my hive and had scraped some comb into a tupperware container. A few weeks later I remembered to look in the tupperware and there were little white larvae (dead) that had hatched.


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## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

My guess would be Small hive beetle larva, wax moth larva is more gray them white.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Those may be small hive beetle larvae. 
You asked, 'is the honey fermenting?'. SHB larvae will cause your honey to ferment. If you can smell the fermenting honey, you surely have a problem.


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## cwyse (May 29, 2010)

I don't think that SHB is in north central Connecticut, is it?

Chris


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## cwyse (May 29, 2010)

Also, I didn't see any worms in the combs, and the honey wasn't leaking. The few worms that I saw were above the brood comb. The worm was slightly yellow, it looked like meal worms in flour.

Chris


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

This is what moths do. They are almost twice as large as SHB.
http://americasbeekeeper.com/Moth Damage_04.jpg
This is small hive beetles. 
http://americasbeekeeper.com/SHB_infestation.JPG
http://americasbeekeeper.com/SHB_larva.JPG


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## cwyse (May 29, 2010)

I haven't seen any of those situations yet (and hopefully won't). The larvae looks similar to SHB, but I image that a lot of larvae look like that. Would I be able to distinguish a small SHB from moth larvae?

Is there anything to do at this point? It's too cold (40's) to open the hive again right? If it gets into the 50's is that warm enough? 

Last inspection, I went through about six combs, and they looked fine except that the honey caps had a blackish cap. None were white. I didn't smell anything fermenting.

Chris


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Wax moth larvae are much larger than SHB. 
http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/common/images/cd-43-c-txt/cimg258.html


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## cwyse (May 29, 2010)

That's pretty big, but isn't that a later instar? These looked like they just hatched. Is there anything to do if I open the hive? Is it too cold to open the hive?

Chris


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

They emerge from the cocoon full size, just like bees and all other insects that pupate. Checkmite + is about the only way to save a hive once there is larvae. They will be dead in a week or two untreated.


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## cwyse (May 29, 2010)

Just looked at another thread that said wax moth has legs on both front and back, but the beetle larvae only has legs on the front. If it gets in the 50s I'll take off the roof of the hive (the hive is still covered by the top bars), and see if I can find another larvae on the bars. Actually - I killed one on top of the bars - if it hasn't decomposed, maybe I can get a better look at the legs.

Chris


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