[karenarnett]

Some of the frames from one of my hives that had too much space have glistening pollen, as if it's wet. Some of it is in fact wet and a bit gooey. Some just looks very wet. I don't know what to make of this. Too much moisture in the hive, maybe. A few of the cells contain moldy pollen, but just a few.The rest of the hive is dry. I'm thinking to use a hose and try to wash out this pollen out of the cells and let the frames dry in the sun. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[Bdfarmer555]

Bees will ferment the pollen to make bee bread. That's how they preserve pollen. If your hive is healthy and growing there will be virtually no reason to manually clean frames for them.

 

[RudyT]

probably not a problem, but...I would also check for Small Hive Beetle larva, as they can also ferment the bee bread and make it look glistening. If you see any wigglers, I would take all wet looking or infested frames, put in a box, put in a heavy duty trash bag, and freeze for 2 days. Then assess and regive to hive or clean up, depending. I would also make sure the hive has enough bees to patrol all the comb, and take the other SHB control steps if you have left any out.

 

[Gray Goose]

Some of the frames from one of my hives that had too much space have glistening pollen, as if it's wet. Some of it is in fact wet and a bit gooey. Some just looks very wet. I don't know what to make of this. Too much moisture in the hive, maybe. A few of the cells contain moldy pollen, but just a few.The rest of the hive is dry. I'm thinking to use a hose and try to wash out this pollen out of the cells and let the frames dry in the sun. Anyone have experience with this?

karen, your description sounds "normal" if there are many frames the bees cannot cover reduce the hive size a bit. If they are close to where they were in the fall just leave them bee. BTW the pollen is packed into the cell VIA the bees heads it will not wash out very well. the pollen cells often look wet. Some have a bit of mold. They will clean it up.
GG

 

[vtbeeguy]

Def doesn't wash out. I had a similar experience where a couple pollen combs from a deadout were all moldy. Only thing to do was to scrape the comb and pollen from the bad spots. The bees will fix whatever you have to scrape out. But remember don't go overboard they do quite well cleaning house only get the moldy crap or that's what I would do anyways. Best of luck