Probiotic & Antioxidant LC50

From 8-12-14.

On August 13th (day 6) - Each larva was fed an additional 50 uL of BAD. One of the larva appears to be dead. This brings the total dead to three out of 12 (25%) at day 6.

On August 14th (day 7) - Honey bee larva do not appear to be in good health. None are as active as they should be on day 7 as per previous experiments. A large amount of BAD still remains in most of the wells. Additionally, it is difficult to distinguish if they are dead or alive as they only slightly ungulate. Normally on day 7 the larva are their most active- having eaten all their food and beginning pre-pupation stage.

I will continue to monitor their progress.

USDA Hives
Unfortunately two of our Jenter Boxes at the USDA have been damaged beyond use. They were submerged in boiling water for a long period of time in order to facilitate detachment of adhered wax and other debris.  The high temperature was apparently too much for the plastic boxes and they meleted and warped. This will further hamper our collection of honey bee larva.

Warped Jenter Boxes

The amount of larva we are able to recover seems to have decreased by 80-90% from what we were able to recover from the same hives in July. It appears the queen bee is laying eggs in nearly every one of the wells, however they are not being taken care of by the worker bees and are either left to dry out, taken away, or eaten. By the fourth day (when we'd collect the box) nearly all of the eggs/hatched larva are missing.

//EWW