I got 2 nucs fairly late (after the dandelions were gone) and both had clumps of drone comb on top of the frames, of a very dark brown. The one which is doing quite well has most of the 10 frames in the second box filled, and all the new comb is light colored.
The other nuc, although it seems to have baby bees has brood foundation as black as black can be. Even the sugar water in the boardman feeder has black in it. There seems to be no brood comb foundation, and they aren't filling any of the other 5 sheets of foundation. There seem to be a few drone cells, and maybe even some queen "peanuts". One sheet of what I think is capped brood is coffee colored.
I am a beginner, but this seems like AFB to me. Could it be anything else?
I treated both hives with powdered sugar and terramycin, and plan on waiting to see what happens.
Anybody have any advice? There are no other bees within flying distance, and haven't been for a few years. so I don't feel like I am contaminating anybody else's hives.
When a tree which had previously had feral bees fell down, I noticed that there was "black" in there also.