In very small swarms, hundreds of the young brood may be frequently seen with their heads out of the cells, endeavoring to escape, but are firmly held inside by these webs. I have known a few instances in such circumstances, where it appeared as if the bees had cut off the whole sheet of comb and let it drop, thereby ridding themselves of all further trouble (or would be rid of it, if their owner only did his part by taking out what fell down.)
OTHER SYMPTOMS OF WORMS.
But when the bees make no effort to dislodge the enemy or his works in old stocks, the case is somewhat desperate! Instead of the foregoing symptoms we must look for something entirely different. But few young bees will be found. In their place we may find the fæces of the worms dropped on the board. During winter and spring the bees, in biting off the covering of cells to get at the honey, drop chips closely resembling it. To detect the difference and distinguish one from the other requires a little close inspection. The color of the fæces varies with the comb on which they feed, from white to brown and black. The size of these grains will be in proportion to the worm—from a mere speck to nearly as large as a pin-head: shape cylindrical, with obtuse ends: length about twice its diameter. By the quantity we can judge of the number. If the hive is full of combs the lower ends may appear perfect, while the middle or upper part is sometimes a mat of webs!
Whenever our stocks have become reduced from over-swarming or other cause, this is the next effect in succession that we must expect. Here is another important reason that we know the actual condition of our bees at all times; we can then detect the worms very soon after they commence. In some instances we might save the stock by breaking out most of the combs, leaving just enough to be covered by the bees. When success attends this operation, it must be done before the worms have progressed to a thorough lodgment. When the stock is weak, and appearances indicate the presence of many, it is generally the safest, and will be the least trouble in the end, to drive out the bees at once and secure the honey and wax. The bees when put into a new hive may do a little, but if they should do nothing, it would be no worse. It cannot be as bad any way as to have left them in the old hive till the worms had destroyed all and matured a thousand or two moths in addition to those otherwise produced, thereby multiplying the chances of damage to other stocks a thousand-fold. It is probably remembered that I said when bees are removed from a hive in warm weather, if it was not infested with worms at the time, it soon would be, unless smoked with sulphur.
WHEN THEY GROW LARGER THAN USUAL.
In a hive thus left without bees to interfere, the worms will increase to one-half or two-thirds larger than where their right to the combs is disputed. In one case they often have their growth, and actually wind up in their cocoon when less than an inch in length: in the other they will quietly fatten till they are an inch and a half long and as large as a pipe-stem.
TIME OF GROWTH.
When first hatched from the egg, it requires very close inspection to see them with the naked eye. The rapidity of growth depends on the temperature in which they are, as much or more than their good living. A few days in hot weather might develop the full-grown worm, while in a lower temperature it would require weeks and even months in some cases, perhaps from fall till spring.
TIME OF TRANSFORMATION.
The worm, after spinning its cocoon, soon changes to a chrysalis, and remains inactive for several days, when it makes an opening in one end and crawls out. The time taken for this transformation is also governed by the temperature, although I think but few ever pass the winter in this state. It is a rare thing to find a moth before the end of May, and not many till the middle of June; but after this time they are more numerous till the end of the season.