pulled 4 frames fully capped . one was almost completely full of a white milky very liquid something. anyone ever seen any thing like this? trashed the comb and washed the frame with very hot water.
Quote from: beesonhay465 on June 12, 2020, 06:15:28 PM
pulled 4 frames fully capped . one was almost completely full of a white milky very liquid something. anyone ever seen any thing like this? trashed the comb and washed the frame with very hot water.
Did you make a picture?
The only thing I can think of that is white and milky that would involve bees is royal jelly. So the image I get is a whole comb of fresh brood being tossed. But I am very new at this and have not had much experience with all of what goes on in there.
Mr. Beesonhay, my bet is the honey was in early stages of crystallization. This is caused by high glucose in the nectar. There are flowers high in glucose that crystallizes in the comb, canola is one.
this was a fully capped frame on plastic foundation . the substance was thin as water milky white , had no taste of honey or acid or ferment.???
Quote from: beesonhay465 on June 13, 2020, 09:26:13 AM
this was a fully capped frame on plastic foundation . the substance was thin as water milky white , had no taste of honey or acid or ferment.???
Quote from: Ben Framed on June 12, 2020, 06:18:31 PM
Quote from: beesonhay465 on June 12, 2020, 06:15:28 PM
pulled 4 frames fully capped . one was almost completely full of a white milky very liquid something. anyone ever seen any thing like this? trashed the comb and washed the frame with very hot water.
Did you make a picture?
The only thing I know of that bees cap, is honey and brood as Leo suggested.
Was it capped with white wax (honey) or yellow wax parchment (brood)? In other words, what were the bees intending it to be?
Most likely what you saw is "brood food", nurse bees excrete it from special glands to feed young bees. Its the bees form of baby food. Sometimes when we pull out frames and damage cells both capped and uncapped the brood food pours out from the cells as well as the squished little bodies of brood. Its more obvious when bees put drone brood between frames and they are damaged when pulling them out.
Its no problem. Next time just gently replace the frames and the bees will clean up the mess. One thing you can do to help with less damage to brood is to break apart the hive boxes before pulling out the frames. It makes it easier to lift them out. Try and start with taking out frames 1 or 2 as they are less likely to have worker brood to damage (but may have drone brood this time of year). When you are done inspecting and the frames are all back in, with 2 hives tools push the frames snugly together centered in the hive body. This also makes it easier to do inspections without damage on your next visit. It gives you room to push the frames out Its especially helpful when running 8 frame equipment as it tends to be a bit wider.