Dead lavae/pupae?

[Floss]

Is this normal? I noticed over the weekend small flakes of white in the hive entrance - like bits of white fish! On closer inspection the next day I noticed they had what appeared to be an inprint on them and then I found a part formed bee - ? pupa???

I have only had the hive 7 days. I have not opened it as the weather has been foul. How long can i leave it before I check and is this normal and they are just having a clear out?!

Many thanks for any guidance.....Floss

 

[jon]

Is it a full hive or a nuc?
There are several possibilities.
If the weather has been bad, the brood may have been chilled, although temperatures have not been that low. This could also happen if you transferred the contents of a nuc to a full hive and split up the brood nest in the process.
Another possibility is that the colony was recently made up with bees, brood and a queen and there are not enough bees to cover the brood.
Some bees have hygienic traits and will remove varroa damaged brood.
Bees will also remove chalk brood larvae. These look like grey or white pellets.

 

[Floss]

Thanks Jon, It is a full hive with an established colony. The temperatures here did plummet last week and dropped by over 10c.

They are definately not pellets being more like "flakes"in appearance.

I guess I will know more when I have a look but the forcast is grim and the temp is a mere 12c!

 

[jon]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's not an unusual occurrance.
The queen lays a lot of eggs based on good conditions and the temperature then drops resulting in some brood around the edge of the nest being discarded.

 

[Polyanwood]

Probably a few pupae and some comb was damaged in moving the colony and the bees are just cleaning up.

 

[Floss]

Ah...wondered if the move could have "disturbed" things....many thanks both of you...that is v reassuring...the sun has come out so if warm enough will have a look tonight! Floss