What happened to this frame

[drlang94]

I inspected my hive recently and found this frame it looks to have a lot of pollen but on top of the pollen is white, kind of looks like tiny white pebbles. Has a weird smell similar to fermenting. I thought mold but it doesn't seem to look like other pictures I found online.


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[Michael Bush]

The picture isn't large enough to tell much, but it looks like pollen/bee bread to me.

[BeeMaster2]

What Michael said.
I have never seen pollen that white. Watch your bees at the entrance. See if they are bringing in a white pollen on their legs.
They may have collected it during a dearth and the only thing they found was a white powder. Maybe flour.
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

I did a little searching for pollen colors. Do you have Hazel, Heather sp. or Elder in your area?
They are the only ones that were light gray on the chart.
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

Please add your location to your profile. It really would help to provide a better answer to this and your future questions.

[drlang94]

I'm in northern Rhode Island, cant find where to update my profile with any other information. Here's a couple more up close a few weeks ago I saw some pollen going in but it was yellow.


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[BeeMaster2]

drlang,
Go to the Profile tab and click on Modify Profile and scroll down and fill in the info.
Looks like pollen.
Jim

[mtnb]

I would taste that, just to see? 

[drlang94]

I'll have to log onto the forum through the website not finding that on tapatalk app. I read a little about bee bread and thinking that it is probably that


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[mtnb]

Those are some really cool close ups drlang!

[drlang94]

Those are some really cool close ups drlang!

Thanks!


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[drlang94]

I did take that frame out of the hive the other day should I give it back to them?


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[D Coates]

Yep, if you can.

[sc-bee]

Have in bird feeders around? I have seen them go for the ground up seed dust....

[tjc1]

I have found white mold growing on bee bread (usually on an outside frame in the spring, or in a deadout hive) and it does have a fermenty smell to it.

[sc-bee]

My first thought was mold also, especially if you have had the moisture we have had. But I see it a little more in vacant hive not active ones.

[Ed Gallop]

I've never experienced white pollen or mold. Wouldn't mold spread across the wax as well as the top of the cells?

[Maggiesdad]

Looks like mold to me.  You said it smelled fermenty... where in the box was the frame located, and did it have any bees on it or were they avoiding it?

I can smell the alcohol in a bag of bread that's going bad before the green comes on it...

[ggileau]

Hmm. I have seen that white stuff myself and I've seen mold. The mold I've seen has been in a weak colony in late winter early spring and they don't look alike. I scraped a little of the white stuff out and it seemed to me to be harder than bee bread.

Sorry I was not any help except that I have seen the exact same thing. Also we are in the same area, wonder if it is a local thing

[GSF]

Wouldn't mold be everywhere, not just in the cells?