A Handy Checklist

I have included below a handy checklist that appeared in the July 1996 issue of The Speedy Bee.  Though this checklist was written almost ten years ago, it is still as true and as helpful today as it was then.  This checklist (without the photographs) is quoted below in its entirety:  kgp

"Brood Inspection Checklist"

"Inspecting the brood combs of a honey bee colony is a useful way - and sometimes the only way - to determine the health and general condition of the colony.  However, you have to know what you are looking at - and what that means - to make the diagnosis.

  In general, a healthy brood comb simply 'looks healthy'.  The brood cappings have a 'pie crust' color; the larvae are white, glistening and 'fat'.  The cappings of the brood cells are uniform and the overall pattern is solid, with few holes or skips.  A good queen will start laying eggs in the lower center of the combs and radiate out from there.  Once the oldest brood emerges, the queen lays in those cells, and the youngest brood on the comb will now be in the center.  Once the brood-rearing cycle gets underway in the spring or following the introduction of a new queen, all stages of brood should be found at each inspection.

  Here are some conditions you may observe during your brood inspections and their possible causes:

 ◘ NO EGGS, NO BROOD PRESENT

   (a) Not brood-rearing season.

    (b) No queen.

    (c) New queen not yet laying.

    (d) Extended shortage of pollen.

 ◘ NO EGGS, BUT BROOD PRESENT

   (a) Brood-rearing ceased - end of the season.

    (b) Queen has died or colony is preparing to swarm.

    (c) Lack of pollen curtailed brood-rearing.

 ◘  Test for Presence of a Queen: 

If there are no eggs and you can't determine if there is a queen present, put in a brood comb with young larvae from another colony.  Check back in three days; if the suspect hive starts queen cells, it has no queen.

 ◘ EGGS PRESENT, BUT NO BROOD

    Brood-rearing has just resumed after being halted for some reason.

 ◘ WET-LOOKING POLLEN - in the Center of the Broodnest

    If there is no queen and during the off-season, pollen may be stored in the center of the brood nest and can take on an unkempt look - wet or glazed over.  When the workers anticipate needing the pollen to feed brood, they move the pollen and freshen it up and it has a dry look.

 ◘ CLEAN, EMPTY CELLS - in the Center of the Broodnest

  The opposite of the wet-pollen look.  When the workers anticipate that brood cells will be needed for eggs, they move nectar and pollen out of the way and give the cells a spit-shine.

◘ TOO MANY EGGS PER CELL

  (a) Young, inexperienced queen, likely fresh- mated; they usually settle down quickly to one egg per cell.

   (b) Something happened to queen and laying workers developed.

 ◘ SCATTERED BROOD

   - Same-age brood scattered over the comb, not in adjacent cells, means:

   (a) Queen is running out of sperm.

   (b) Something is killing the brood.  In early spring, cold nights when there are too few adult bees to keep the brood warm can result in chilled brood.  Sometimes pesticides or poison pollen can cause scattered patterns.

   Clue:  Is only one colony showing the symptoms, or are several?

 ◘ RAISED CAPPINGS ON WORKER CELLS

   - The cappings look like the ends of bullets.  Cause:  Drone brood is developing in worker cells, because-

   (a) Queen has become a drone-layer.  Usually her sperm reserves are depleted, due to her age.

   (b) Laying workers; lay only infertile eggs, resulting in drones.

 ◘ RAISED CAPPINGS ON DRONE CELLS

   Normal drone brood has a 'bullet' look, but not as pronounced as when it is in worker cells.  Normally, queens lay unfertilized eggs in the larger (both in circumference and depth) drone cells.  These are frequently found around the bottom edges of the brood comb and in areas where the comb has been damaged.  The presence of some drone brood indicates a vigorous, well-nourished colony.

 ◘ QUEEN CELLS

   Queen cells are constructed along a vertical plane, as contrasted with the horizontal plane of worker and drone brood cells.  They somewhat resemble peanuts (in the shells).

   (a) Queen cells near the center of the comb, 'growing' out worker brood cells = Replacement cells the workers have developed in emergency loss of queen.

   (b) Queen cells everywhere, particularly near bottom of comb = Swarm preparation.  Old queen will soon depart with about half the bees (called the 'prime swarm').

   Tip:  For a quick check of swarm preparation, in a hive with two brood boxes, break the boxes apart and look along the bottom bars and bottoms of the combs in the top box.  Most colonies preparing to swarm will show cells along comb bottoms.

 ◘ DEAD LARVAE (not white)

   (a) Chilled due to cold snap (usually in spring) when there are too few adult bees to keep the brood warm.

   (b) Died due to lack of care for some reason.

   (c) Disease:  Sacbrood, American foulbrood, European foulbrood.

   (d) Pesticide damage.

   (e) Larvae fed poison pollen - extremely limited geographical areas.

 ◘ MUMMIFIED LARVAE

   - Older stage larvae turn white and hard = Chalkbrood.

 ◘ MOLDY POLLEN

   Soft, white stuff in pollen cells = Insufficient hive ventilation.

 ◘ WHAT ABOUT MITES?

   Tracheal mites cannot be observed by examining a brood comb - they are microscopic in size and spend most of their life in the bees' trachea, or breathing tubes.  After some training, you can pretty easily identify varroa mites on adult bees' abdomens.  Also, you can uncap pupae and pull them out of the cells and check for dark varroa attached to the white pupae.  Varroa are especially attracted to drone brood and can often be found in the bottom end of the cells from which drone pupae are extracted.  They may run out of the cells as pupae are being extracted."

                "Adapted from the Beehive, published by Northwest Ohio Beekeepers Assn., Don Cox, editor.  Revised with the assistance of Dr. Tom Sanford, University of Florida."