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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Michael Morrissey <mmorrissey AT fastmail.fm>, Orange Co Beekeepers <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Moldy comb with syrup?
  • Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2017 15:21:03 -0500

Michael,

Interesting fact: the Bible talks a whole lot more about mildew than it does the devil (look it up). However when it comes to honey bees, don't worry about the mold! It may be a sign that you need a little better ventilation, but it isn't a problem. The bees will clean it up, given the chance. It has not ruined the honey, the comb or the frames. Mold cannot live in properly cured honey. BTW, I don't see any mold in the pictures....

Your dark comb is dark because brood cells darken with each successive generation of brood that is reared in it. This is perfectly normal. Your bees have reused brood cells to store honey. There is nothing wrong with it. The honey itself is dark because that's mostly what we get around here, particularly from tulip poplar.

Kudos for the pics!

Randall Austin


On 3/6/2017 3:01 PM, Michael Morrissey wrote:
1488830496.3052031.902356352.4C1E8DD2 AT webmail.messagingengine.com" type="cite">
Hi,
 I inspected one hive today and in the end of one deep (bottom level) was a completely empty (like new) frame, with mold around the wood edges. The frame next to it has capped syrup,not honey (see pics attached). It looks quite dark, but I'm not sure there's mold in or on the wax, or if it's just old dark comb. Both old and new frames had plastic foundation--the old ones came from a nuc last year.The rest of the frames looked normal, brood in center and in the frames above it. 

So I removed the moldy empty and the syrup filled frame, replacing them checkerboard style with two new frames. Should I have left the syrup filled frame? Should I save it?   

Thanks! 

--
Michael Morrissey
Durham, NC
919.236.3230






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