Yes, sugar block debris and debris from capping scare both pretty normal.
I checked my hive yesterday as well. Lots of bees... Capped brood in upper box #2... Did not see queen because so many bees...Still several frames of honey in lower box.. new pollen that isn't capped over yet and bees carrying red and tan pollen. A few mites in bottom board but I installed Apivar strips for that.
Question: Seems like the bottom board is s covered with a lot of (what appears to be) sugar block powder? Is that normal?
I finally got into my two over wintered hives today. Weather and too many life activities has prevented me up until today.
My strongest hive is so full of bees in both deeps that I added a 3rd deep for growth. At this rate, I will be able to split in 3 weeks for sure. My rough estimate is that each of 8 frames in both boxes had no less than 800 to 1000 bees per side. I am thinking this hive has close to 25,000 to 30,000 bees right now.
There is still honey available, and tons of working girls with full yellow pollen baskets all over the place.
The other hive is not as strong, but still doing well. Very few bees on the bottom brood box and most of the 8 frames in the 2nd brood box was active. Perhaps only 10,000 to 12,000 bees in this hive. The queen is there, eggs, larvae, and capped brood present. I swapped the boxes, putting the stronger of the two on the bottom.
There is some sugar candy left in both feeder boxes and tons of bees going at it. So I will leave the candy there.
Both bottom boards were free of mites, lots of wax capping scraps. I placed Apivar strips in both hives.
Spring is upon us!!!