Sticky board - what’s it saying?

[Lastfling]

I pulled and cleaned the sticky boards in both my hives and here are the boards as they came out.  Other than several dead hive beetles, grains of sugar, scattered pollen, a few dead ants and 2 mites on one board , none on the other that I saw what else is this telling me?  Bees on the left frames in hive 1 and fairly centered in 2?



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[Jacobs]

Definitely giving you the location of the clusters, and my guess would be that the one on the left with more and better defined debris is stronger or more active.  I don't generally use screened bottom boards, so the last part really is a guess.

[neillsayers]

Lastfling, It's important to know how long the boards were installed. 2 mites is great, way below treatment threshold but if the boards were in for a long time ants could have pulled them off. It does indicate just how much trash drops to the floor that the house bees usually clean up.

[Lastfling]

Neil those boards had been in two  weeks.  I normally aim for weekly checks just to see what’s going on.


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[Lburou]

I believe the tiny black pellets are wax moth detritus.  You will find the larva in the frames above the pellets.  But I wouldn't look for them in a strong hive, especially this time of year.