Mouldy Frames

[Robin Ashfield]

Can anybody tell me what Ive done wrong?

I put all of these frames in a spare super in my garage for the winter. Upon examining them, they are covered in various 'threadlike' fungi.

Presumably I will have to rip them all out and start again which I'm a bit gutted about as a lot of Bee work went into making them.

Any advice on what I should do to avoid this next time would be much appreciated

 

[BeeJayBee]

You haven't done anything wrong. The pollen and/or nectar has gone mouldy. It happens.

You can reuse the frames in supers, when it's warm enough.

If you want to you could put them in a box and treat with acetic acid, but in reality the bees will clean these frames in no time at all.

 

[Robin Ashfield]

Wow - thank you. I just assumed that with a load of 'nasty' spores this might be detrimental to the Bees health!

Do I need to clean any of the crud off?

 

[GlenJ]

I would just "spot clean" the nasty bits back to the foundation - seems only fair as they were taken away where the bees couldn't look after them! It's amazing what a few thousand bees can do when they want to and they won't put stores into a comb that's contaminated.
Were they stored "wet" or "dry"? Looks like the shed is a bit on the damp side - not helped by the mild winter, I guess.

 

[Swarm]

Store them wet in a sealed bag next time. I have always stored wet supers this way, they don't go mouldy.
The bees will sort that lot out though.

 

[enrico]

It really is a common thing. pollen mixed with a little honey and it sucks in the moisture and goes mouldy! A light brush off with the stuff on the top, the bees clean it up really easily although I wouldn't give them all the mouldy stuff at once, just use them on the outer frames of supers to give them somewhere nice to store the first nectar they bring in, they will start to clean the outer frames before they need them.

 

[REDWOOD]

I wash mine off with a garden hose with a shower head attachment although the bees will clean them just fine


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[Goodwood]

edit just saw pic