strange discovery

[Zoot]

I was inspecting the inserts from my ssb's today to check for mite fall and observed something new : a series of milky droplets. This was in one hive only and the droplets were off to one side in a rough line more or less parallel with the frame(s) above. That hive is 2 years old, in four 8 frame mediums for winter and otherwise seemingly healthy.  It looks like royal jelly...could that be?  Unfortunately I am going out of town for 4 days and can't take a look inside (weather permitting) until Sunday.

[Scadsobees]

Are the drops watery?

It seems a bit late in the year for the bees to be generating much royal jelly. 

However, it is the time of year when they cluster and produce h2o and I'd guess that it was water condensation that may have picked up something on the way down.  I can't guess what, though.

Unless...body fluids from brood being removed?  Although I think this turns grey with oxygen.

Rick

[Zoot]

Rick,

My hives are pretty well ventilated so I'm certain it's not water. This is more of a pearly, grayish white substance with about the same viscosity as uncapped nectar. I did notice the bees in this hive removing some dead brood yesterday which I thought was a bit odd since it appeared to be very nicely structured for winter with regards to location of cluster, brood and stores.

[Mici]

so if you say it's viscous it's definitely a liquid....
if it's anything else than water...it can't be anything else..maybe some water that grew a lot of mildew so it got thick enough...
(just thinking out loud)

[Zoot]

nah, it's pretty dry in there. I dabbed a bit on my tongue and it is faintly sweet but I've never seen anything like it in this region of a hive. Imagine slightly watered down Elmer's glue. Can uncapped nectar become cloudy due to mildew? Why would it start to drip?

[Scadsobees]

I dabbed a bit on my tongue and it is faintly sweet

Oh, then it is definately bee feces!!  :shock:  :-D

[Bennettoid]

I dabbed a bit on my tongue and it is faintly sweet

Oh, then it is definately bee feces!!  :shock:  :-D

LMAO!!!

[hooyaman]

I had a feeling someone was going to say that  !!!!!!  Dont think i would be tasting anything that I wasnt sure of.    Wow

[johnnybigfish]

LMOA too!!! I was thinking of saying "just taste it"but I didnt know if that would've been recieved as an insult,
yalls friend, john

( I would've tasted it...My wife hollers at me for tasting everything!)

[johnnybigfish]

Oh boy Scads!
 I still cant stop laffing!!..You spake of the "feces" so eloquently!
(...as water drips out of my eyes)...hee hee...Guffahhh!

[Cindi]

Ha, come on, bee poop is mustard coloured, so what did you taste anyways?  Surely not Elmer's glue.  I think it was bee larvae guts!!!   ;) :) :)  Have the best and most wonderful day.  Cindi

[Scadsobees]

Yes, Cindi's right.  But I just couldn't resist  :-D

Bee larvae is a common food in other parts of the world, so that isn't such a big deal.  Considering what honey is....

This is one that I'd chalk up to "who knows, probably not serious, so don't worry as long as they look fine" category.

Rick
(sorry to turn a serious topic into a joke...)

[JP]

I would smell it, then maybe taste it. Sounds like it could be liquids that oozed out of some dead brood. You did say you saw the bees removing some brood.

[Cindi]

Nope, liquids oozed out of dead brood.  I don't think that is what it is.  Usually, if there is the dead brood, the bees take them out of the hives before the brood would ooze out stuff, just thinking out loud too.  So.....let's figure it out, or let it go, I don't think that it is anything to worry about, just some oddity of the hive, surely.  It is certainly a curious thing though, eh?  Have a wonderful, beautiful day, love our life we're livin'.  Cindi

[JP]

If the hive had been worked recently and some frames were pulled apart that had crosscomb with brood, some of that comb could have been damaged thus the oozing of brood.

[Cindi]

JP, right, I have done that in the colonies with accidental clumbsiness.  I have had some cells of brood rip open and the body fluids ooze into the hive, right, had forgot about that.  That is actually kind of a sad sight when that happens, but then S happens.  Have a wonderful and beautiful day, greatest of this life.  Cindi

[Zoot]

JP,

I suspect you're on the mark. It seemed a bit excessive but there's no evidence to the contrary. I had left the top super on which had mostly capped honey but there was a very small cluster of brood in the center which I assumed would perish due to it's isolation from the main brood cluster. No doubt this happened, hence the dripping fluids.