Dirty hive?

[Bob Wilson]

Two of my hives are very clean. One especially is tidy, straight, and clean. The third just seems grimy.
The propolis is ugly grey and gooey/gunky and excessive. I don't seem any Nosema, or bee defecation. There are not any beetles, or wax moth larva or slime. All the comb seems normal, but the frames, especially the top of the frames is just dirty.
Today I say what seemed like a small drop of  water on a frame. It was watery, not sticky, gooey, slimy, or stringy, and it was a grey, milky color.
This hive had beetle problems in February, but the population exploded last month and I rarely see one now.
It has swarmed twice already this pre-honey flow calendar year.
Ideas?

[Oldbeavo]

The first thing i notice is the lack of bees in the photo.
What is happening in the hive? Bees, brood, eggs, queen and stores.
Spot of water may be condensation???
Bees make propolis from a lot of different sources. so may be different.

[BeeMaster2]

Bob,
I?m also wondering about where are the bees.
My guess is that these are different bees than your other ones and they like a lot of propolis in their hive. My bees do not make a lot of propolis but when I went to Bud7 in Mississippi, Bud?s bees propolized everything. It was real thick in his hives. One of our members was collecting large amounts of it to take home.
Are these bees a different color than your other bees?
Jim Altmiller

[salvo]

Hi Bob,

It may be just what is termed Plum Bloom

I get it in my hives sometimes in Spring, and it also shows up on stored blocks of beeswax. It wipes off, but it goes away when temperatures rise and there's a free flow of air throughout the hive as well as increased bee activity.

I think it's a temperature/humidity thing. I used to think it was like the "Bloom on a grape", but I was told it was not. I still think it is.

I've never gotten a satisfactory answer.

Good pics here:

https://thehoneycompany.com/plum-bloom-on-beeswax/

Sal

[van from Arkansas]

The first thing i notice is the lack of bees in the photo.
What is happening in the hive? Bees, brood, eggs, queen and stores.
Spot of water may be condensation???
Bees make propolis from a lot of different sources. so may be different.

👍

[Beeboy01]

From the picture it looks like there is not enough room between the top bars and the hive top. The bees have propolized along the edges of the top bars closing up the space as best as they could. I've had the same thing happen in my hives with miss matched equipment. I run an inner cover with a bottom lip on some of my miss matched boxes to prevent it from happening.

[rast]

 I have two hives that have propolis colored like that, grey and sticky. Mother and daughter.

[Ben Framed]

Just a guess, could it have something to do with what source that the propolis is being gathered and made from?  We see the color vibrance in the color of honey, depending on what source nectar for honey is being gathered from.

[Bob Wilson]

The red/amber colored propolis is what I am used to. This hive's propolis is gooey and grey. I didn't write it in my notes, so i cant be sure if they have always made it this way. They started sickly this February, then sprinted past the other two hive and made a huge colony... that then swarmed 3 times.
I will keep an eye on it. They seem little different than the other colonies. Perhaps a little darker. Everything else seems healthy enough. They had become mean and ugly earlier this spring, but they are calm again now. Today, I shook off all 20-30 frames, culling queen cells, and did it barehanded with no stings.