Moldy Hives

[hollybees]

Hello Everyone,

I opened up the hives after a long winter and found a lot of mold in 2 of the 3 hives I have...some of it black. (all in the northwest corner of the supers)
Their was still lots of capped honey left and it has mold on it.
I probably have 40lbs of it and I don't want it to go to waste of course, so can anyone suggest how to clean it off.

I will just put it in the freezer and save to feed back to them as long as I can be sure it's safe.

Haven't posted for a long while...good to be back!  8-)

Thanks to all
I hope your bees are well,
Paul

[Irwin]

The bees will clean it up you should be fine :-D Don't worry bee happy that you still got bees.

[David LaFerney]

I have a little bit of the same thing, and I take it to indicate that there is too much moisture in the hive.

[hollybees]

The mold was pretty bad and the hive's numbers are low it was my strongest hive going into winter.
I pulled off the moldy supers and put them down to one until they get stronger.
Erwin I didn't know the bees would clean it up thanks.
I'm going to brush and scrape off the worst of it and give it back to them later.

Thanks,
Paul

[Sparky]

Probably a combination of to much moisture and not enough ventilation. Both could have been solved by the additional ventilation. I would freeze the frames first before giving them to the bees to clean off.