grey stuff in cells

[becky]

We got two nucs about 10 days ago, and had a look yesterday for the first time since we brought them home and moved them into a hive. There is lots of honey, capped and uncapped, and lots of activity on the new frames. There are eggs in both hives on the new frames, and I even saw the queen laying in one! Very exciting. Things seem to be going well, but I had one question. There is a small amount of grey stuff in the bottom of 5-10 cells per frame. They seem to be scattered amongst capped (brood?) cells. Some have a bit of orange in them. Are these pollen or something else that I should be worried about? I hope I am not repeating a question; I did look through the archives! Thanks.

[ChellesBees]

Probably pollen. It can be all different colors. Does it look damp/dry, or slimey wet. Slimey wet wouldn't be pollen.

[Michael Bush]

If you are in doubt, take a kitchen match and dig some out. Pollen is kind of like bread dough only not sticky. I'd guess it's pollen. If it's runny or slimy then you may have a problem.

[mmundy]

Pollen. Sometimes it is even gray! Go to Amazon.com and do a search for the book, Beekeeping for Dummies. When the picture of the book shows up, you can click to enlarge it... you'll see many colors of pollen, from pink to orange to green.

[dragonfly]

The pollen from lemon mint (one of the monarda species) sometimes looks gray. I noticed it on a bee visiting the lemon mint in my wildflower bed a few weeks ago. My guess is that it may be pollen.

[denise_ky]

To a brand new beekeeper young larvae can look gray, depending on the light. Is it wet and curled around the bottom?
Denise

[becky]

Thanks everyone. I poked it and it is definitely not slimey, quite dry and chunky, and only about 1/6 the depth of a cell...looked closely and I don't think they are larva either. I guess it is pollen! Thanks again.

[TAWoods]

Becky... Dutch/White Clover pollen has a gray hue. My guess, as with the others and now yours is, this is pollen you are looking at.