Packed pollen in honey supers...

[Beagle23]

....at least I think that's what it is.
I've just been manually extracting 10 frames of honey (using my trusty ice-cream scoop), and four of them were packed out in the middle with what I thought at first was old, rotting brood. I could clearly see what I thought was yellow and dark bands in the cells, and when uncapped they didn't smell particularly pleasant. They were also dominating the middle of the frame in a brood pattern.
Then common sense kicked in and it occurred to me that these were new frames, how on Earth could old brood get into them.

So after much internal consternation it finally dawned on me that it was probably pollen, it smelled foul at first but when washed and rubbed on my fingers it stained them yellow and started to smell a bit more floral.

So could I be right? Is it likely to be pollen and why would the bees store so much of it in the supers?

 

[enrico]

Yes, and they put it where they can
E

 

[Beagle23]

Yes, and they put it where they can
E

They're being difficult this year, I think I need to have a word with the queen. But thanks for easing my fears E

 

[Erichalfbee]

I had nearly two supers with a large arc of pollen on every frame this spring. Most of it has gone now

 

[Beagle23]

I had nearly two supers with a large arc of pollen on every frame this spring. Most of it has gone now

Can pollen be fed back into the hive?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Indeed it can.
It will keep in the freezer. I always have a few pollen brood frames to hand.
I looked those two supers in dismay but no need. The bees are most of it.