What am I looking at?

[MJuric]

It was a nice day today so I open up my hives and checked for stores, problems etc.

I pulled a couple frames in one hive that was largely empty and replaced them with some frames of honey I had saved.

When I first glanced at one of the frames it looked like it had brood in it. I thought that was odd since it was an outside frame and considering time of year. Upon looking a bit closer it was clearly not bee brood so I pulled it anyway.

Later I had a chance to take a closer look as I was concerned it might be some parasite or something, but also thought it was wierd that a parasite would be away from the cluster.

seems like the cells are simply partially filled with a waxy crystallized honey something or another...not knowing what to do I did as anyone would...I tasted it. Yep, sweet and chewy...so far I'm still alive.

Any idea what this is and or why it's there?

P3061596.JPG

[throrope]

Looks like crystallized honey. I've seen that in mine and expect them to clean house and put all in order as they build up in the coming weeks.

[honeybeekeeper]

As already mentioned yes its a small patch of crystalized honey that over wintered. i would just leave it as is, the bees will take care of it and fill up them cells eventually! Good Luck!!

[MJuric]

Thanks, first time overwintering so wasn't sure what it was. These were mostly empty and that particular hive seemed a little light so I pulled these frames and gave them a couple frames full of honey.

I'll probably just take them back out there when it warms up some more and let them clean them the rest of the way up.

Thanks,

~Matt

[really_so_sorry]

I can confirm this is crystallized honey. We had this problem last year with our bees. There was a great nectar flow just before the end of the season, but the nectar was from Asteraceae, which I've been informed makes very high-sugar nectar. As a result, it all crystallized over the winter. As a result of crystallization, the bees have to use water to liquefy and eat the stuff. We found that colonies with crystallized honey did not fair as well as those without (an observation, not a quantification). They tended to poop more too.

Following the end of winter, we left or moved the crystallized frames in colonies--they were cleaned up quickly.


This season, we extracted the last flow of aster honey (and it crystallized pretty fast in containers) and we then fed them a standard sugar-water solution. We're just coming out of winter now and the bees all look fine and the honey has not crystallized and there isn't the same quantity of poop.

[throrope]

Thanks, first time overwintering . . . .~Matt

Congratulations on getting your hive through the winter! That's the first step toward a good harvest. Hope you learn about splits and swarms this year too. Fun fun fun!

[MJuric]

There was a great nectar flow just before the end of the season, but the nectar was from Asteraceae, which I've been informed makes very high-sugar nectar.

Interesting. We have a lot of Golden Rod toward the end of the year, which I've heard also crystallizes a bit easier than other honey.

I'm not terribly worried about the hives if that is the case as they appear to have plenty of other stores and as spring comes on will have more and more water available.

~Matt

[MJuric]

Yes so far so good. Where thru the really cold stuff and should start to see things popping in another month. I was expecting to loose a couple, but so far I'm four for four.

I ordered a couple more packages and plan on splitting a couple as well.

Hope to try making some nuc's as well around July or so and even play with some queen rearing.

Started last year at the same time as two of my friends. Been a lot of fun.

~Matt

[really_so_sorry]

Interesting. We have a lot of Golden Rod toward the end of the year, which I've heard also crystallizes a bit easier than other honey.


~Matt

Sorry, I should have mentioned... it's the Golden Rod I am discussing (it's an Asteracea). We have a huge Golden Rod bloom at the end of the season, which subsequently crystallizes. Sounds like you do too.

[Heintz88]

This is my first year and this happened to me. Really freaked me out because the crystalized honey really looked like a larvea to me. So i popped afew of the cells out with my hive tool and they popped like a pimple. Was really weird to see. I eventually, after close inspection, came to the conclusion that the honey serpated. Learning experiences for the win.

[MJuric]

Exactly what happened to me.

You're just South of me, I'm up near Rockford. This last warm spell I scooted out of work for a bit during lunch and went thru my hives real quick. Just checking to see how they were doing and if they had enough food. I pulled this frame and my first thought is that it was a pest of some sort because it looked like larva.

I pulled the frames that looked that way and replaced them with full frames of honey I kept from last year "Just in case".

Later that night I brought them in the house and took a look and pulled some of the goo out. Didn't see anything that resembled a bug...so I tasted it. Turns out it was crystallized honey but seemed to have some wax mixed in with it as well.

Since I seemed to live thru the night and don't appear to have any aliens growing in my stomache I'm pretty sure that's what it was :-)

~Matt

[MJuric]

it's the Golden Rod I am discussing (it's an Asteracea).

Ahh, yes we have quite a bit of the stuff around. Makes the hives smell like stinky tennis shoes when they are collecting it.

~Matt

[abejorro]

Later that night I brought them in the house and took a look and pulled some of the goo out. Didn't see anything that resembled a bug...so I tasted it. ....

~Matt

ROTFL... only a beek would think like this!! :-))