Please help: mold on my capped comb - can i use that honey?

[TwoBigCats]

greetings,

SHORT VERSION:
is it safe to harvest and eat the honey from comb that appears to have grey powdery mold on it?

DETAILED VERSION:
last spring i installed my first-ever hive - 2 supers.  mid-summer i added a 3rd super and things seemed to be going fine until fall when i was hoping to extract some honey and found that the 3rd super had no comb / honey in it :(

i removed the 3rd super (now back to 2) and let nature take its course.  about a month ago, i noticed decreased bee traffic around the hive, then a week later, a bit of honey / nectar dripping out of the bottom / entrance to the hive.  i popped the top and had bees coming up at me in no time, so put the lid back on and left them to their work.
coupla days ago i noticed zero bee traffic so went out and they'd all left the hive.  nada, zip, zero.

so now i'd like to harvest the honey that they've left behind but find that some of the frames / cells have what appear to be powdery greyish mold on them.  is it safe to remove the caps / harvest the honey from that comb?

thx in advance, looking forward to my 2nd year of trying to herd bees :)

hal

http://twobigcats.blogspot.com/2009/02/harvesting-honey-our-first-year.html

[justgojumpit]

I would probably avoid eating it myself, but you could install a package of bees onto those frames, and they will clean up the mold and use the honey.

justgojumpit

[Brian D. Bray]

I would probably avoid eating it myself, but you could install a package of bees onto those frames, and they will clean up the mold and use the honey.

justgojumpit

That's what I'd do.  Freeze the frames that still have honey in them until just a few days before introducing the bees, then take them out, thaw them, and install the bees.  You won't have to feed because of the honey and the combs gives them a head start also.

[TwoBigCats]

thx for your feedback, i'll follow your advice.

hal

[Scadsobees]

A friend cut open a bee tree last spring that didn't make it and cut out all the honey and filtered and ate it despite there being a significant amount of mold growing.  He's still around, even though he said it wasn't the best honey.  He did say, though, that his family didn't get any infections after that. :roll:

[1of6]

...about a month ago, i noticed decreased bee traffic around the hive, then a week later, a bit of honey / nectar dripping out of the bottom / entrance to the hive...

I missed that the first time I read it.  This may be important.  Can you elaborate or show a picture?  Dripping or oozing honey in a hive that has experienced a decrease in population can sometimes be a sign of other problems...

Also, what location are you in?

[TwoBigCats]

thx for the additional feedback, very much appreciated.

i'm located in silicon valley, ca (1hr south of s.f.) and since i'd already moved the hive in to my garage to begin warming it before extraction over the weekend, i'm not sure how the photo will turn out of the honey leaking from the entrance to the hive.

i will say that ~2 weeks ago when i noticed the nectar/honey beginning to leak from the entrance, i touched my finger to the liquid and it tasted good... a little "lighter" than honey (moisture content was high, i'm guessing) and yesterday when i moved the hive to the garage, i'll admit i tasted some of the honey from a few capped cells and it tasted great :)  i'll take some pics of the affected areas and post later tonight.

thx again for the feedback & questions... i'm very much in the learning mode here.
hal

[TwoBigCats]

...about a month ago, i noticed decreased bee traffic around the hive, then a week later, a bit of honey / nectar dripping out of the bottom / entrance to the hive...

I missed that the first time I read it.  This may be important.  Can you elaborate or show a picture?  Dripping or oozing honey in a hive that has experienced a decrease in population can sometimes be a sign of other problems...

Also, what location are you in?

update:

10 days ago i moved the hive to my garage and (at the suggestion of my bee-mentor), I placed a low wattage light at the bottom of the hive (to warm the honey enough to flow) and left it for 4 days.  last sunday i removed the caps on two frames, placed in a rented 2-frame extractor and attempted to extract.  nothing doing, it was just too cold to flow.  so i took the extracting knife and (thinking of words from folks here) worked around (what appeared to be) the moldy cells.  

i bagged all frames with any comb / honey and have placed them in the freezer until i re-populate the hive next month. we got ~3.5 gals of deeply-flavored honey for our / friends use.

thx again to everyone for your feedback, it was very much appreciated.

best,
hal

http://twobigcats.blogspot.com/2009/02/harvesting-honey-our-first-year.html

[TwoBigCats]

a quick note to thank the moderator for posting my topic-specific blog url.

[Cindi]

TwoBigCats, I looked at your blog, very nice.  Oh I got a kick out of Al with that great big sledgehammer, made for an interesting picture.  Yay!!!  Have a most wonderful and awesome life, day, health.  Cindi

[TwoBigCats]

TwoBigCats, I looked at your blog, very nice.  Oh I got a kick out of Al with that great big sledgehammer, made for an interesting picture.  Yay!!!  Have a most wonderful and awesome life, day, health.  Cindi

thx for the kind words, cindi.  yup, al's a tough guy with a hammer and empty hive, isn't he? ;)

likewise, good things to you and yours, cindi.
hal