thingys in wild honey

[Scadsobees]

We took down a bee tree in December, got it back home and let it set to see if it would make it through the winter.  It didn't.  So we cut it open recently to see what was up with it.  I really don't know why it died, there might have been a queenless problem or maybe they had problems with the move.

Anyway, the reason I'm asking here is that the honey, especially at the top of the cavity, had lots of little amber colored dots all through all the honey.  Not just in the honey that was broken open, but inside of the still capped honeycomb.  I tried to take a picture of it, I don't know how well it shows in the picture.  Basically, any dots that are in the picture are the dots I'm refering to .   I'm sure that some of the stuff in the honey could be from the punky wood on the inside of the cavity, but that doesn't explain how it gets inside the capped honey.

Any ideas as to what those dots are?  Crystallized honey is usually white....

thanks, rick

[doak]

Filter some of it through a paint straining cloth/bag, then put it under a magnifying glass.
May be fine bits of soot/ash from a forest fire,"if" there has been one there in the resent past.
You know the ash and soot from a forest fire can get just about anywhere that isn't sealed up.
doak

[Dane Bramage]

mites? (varroa)  you've probably already eliminated that possibility but it's difficult to tell from the photo.

[Scadsobees]

No, it was from a residential area, so hopefully no forest fires.

Not varroa either, although its about the same color.

I'm guessing it is bits of the rotten punky wood, but I've never seen anything like it and would have thought that the bees could keep it cleaner.  It was really interesting!

[CBEE]

My guess is tiny bits of wood from the inside of the tree. Anything that would shake or jar the tree could cause all kinds of stuff to come off the inside of the tree and fll into uncapped cells/honey

[Michael Bush]

Bits of cocoons is my bet.  They tore up some brood comb to build that comb.  But I'd filter it and get a better look if you can.