What is this white stuff on the brood combs

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

Bungle

New Bee
Joined
Oct 7, 2018
Messages
25
Reaction score
10
Location
Chester, Cheshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
12
Hi,
Two of my hives have developed this white stuff on the brood frames, which I have not seen before.
Can anyone tell me what it is? It’s covering most frames, as also appears around capped brood.
Thanks.
IMG_8432.jpeg IMG_8428.jpeg
 

pargyle

Super Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
***
BeeKeeping Supporter
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
17,056
Reaction score
8,073
Location
Fareham, Hampshire UK
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
6
I think it might just be either crystallised honey or part chewed wax... they are backfilling brood cells with nectar by the look of it ... and the nectar in the cells looks a bit gloomy... heather honey perhaps ?

Where are you located ... helps to have your location in your profile as there's often a regional aspect to answers to questions.
 

Bungle

New Bee
Joined
Oct 7, 2018
Messages
25
Reaction score
10
Location
Chester, Cheshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
12
Thank you, wow, ok nothing to worry about :)
I’m just outside of Chester. They filled the supers quite early, and i couldn’t keep up and they did have some honey in the brood boxes. I extracted end of june, and within no time it started to crystallise in the buckets, I think it was rape rather then heather? they have empty supers again, though things have slowed down significantly.
 

ericbeaumont

Queen Bee
***
Joined
Sep 23, 2010
Messages
3,644
Reaction score
3,527
Location
North London, West Essex and Surrey
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
70
end of june
Too early, and bell (which begins to flower mid-July, before ling) takes a while to crystallise.

Anything in the brassica family - OSR is one - will crystallise fairly quickly. Maybe you have a lot of hedge mustard on verges and field edges?
 

Latest posts

Top