My hive has failed, I’m not sure why. But their is mould on my frames. Can these frames be reused ? Can I recover the honey from the frames or should I burn them? I’m worried they may be diseased. The frames have a bluish mould on them. I’ve attached some pictures. I’ve been feeding, but i don’t think they had enough numbers to ventilate the hive, or could have been the cold. There was a very small amount of dead bees in the hive. Any help is much appreciated.
Mould
- Thread starter Mumph
- Start date
Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:
Boston Bees
Bumblebee
Sorry to see that. Always depressing but it happens.
I think I see evidence of varroa (white spots in the cells), but may be wrong. No brood for a while, plainly, so could be queen failure. Who knows.
The mould will be on the pollen stores, which do go mouldy. That's not a major issue. I would scrape the worst of the mould off (and the bees of course), freeze the frames, and get them out in spring to boost a split or swarm.
EDIT just noticed one of the frames appears to have warped/wild comb on. Don't give that to another colony unless you can cut the errant comb off neatly
I think I see evidence of varroa (white spots in the cells), but may be wrong. No brood for a while, plainly, so could be queen failure. Who knows.
The mould will be on the pollen stores, which do go mouldy. That's not a major issue. I would scrape the worst of the mould off (and the bees of course), freeze the frames, and get them out in spring to boost a split or swarm.
EDIT just noticed one of the frames appears to have warped/wild comb on. Don't give that to another colony unless you can cut the errant comb off neatly
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2012
- Messages
- 17,589
- Reaction score
- 8,792
- Location
- Fareham, Hampshire UK
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 6
That bluish mould is quite normal in a dead out.
Re-using the frames ?
Well .. that depends why the colony failed ..they didn't starve as there appears to be stores in there although they could have become isolated from the stores - were there any dead bees with their heads in cells ...
I can't see any signs of brood disease but you would have noticed in the autumn if there was any.
Likelihood is that the colony dwindled ... were there piles of bees on the floor ? What was your varroa treatment regime ? Did they swarm last year ? When did you last see the queen or brood ?
Lots of questions you need to answer before making that decision I'm afraid.
Re-using the frames ?
Well .. that depends why the colony failed ..they didn't starve as there appears to be stores in there although they could have become isolated from the stores - were there any dead bees with their heads in cells ...
I can't see any signs of brood disease but you would have noticed in the autumn if there was any.
Likelihood is that the colony dwindled ... were there piles of bees on the floor ? What was your varroa treatment regime ? Did they swarm last year ? When did you last see the queen or brood ?
Lots of questions you need to answer before making that decision I'm afraid.
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2010
- Messages
- 11,246
- Reaction score
- 2,902
- Location
- Stoke on Trent
- Hive Type
- Langstroth
- Number of Hives
- 6 to 8 Langstroth jumbos, a few Langstroth and National nucs.
Did you treat for Varroa? If yes, how and when?
If not, looks like varroa killed them.
If not, looks like varroa killed them.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2011
- Messages
- 6,479
- Reaction score
- 391
The mould isnt an issue. The bees live in a world of mould. If it wasnt for mould they wouldnt have tree hollows for their nests. The problem is whether there are any disease vectors left in the comb.
