Beeswax comb, without worker attention over the winter, may become grey-whitish with mold. Bee bread and unhatched remains of brood deteriorate and mold, honey may ferment and run from cell cappings, and discarded brood cappings/sugar crystals and debris from top-most boxes may be scattered onto and within cells of lower combs and on the bottom board.
Beeswax comb, previously used for brood rearing, without worker attention over the winter, often features a grey-whitish with mold. It may also appear abandoned. Bee bread and unhatched remains of brood deteriorate and mold, honey may ferment and run from cell cappings, and discarded brood cappings/sugar crystals and debris from top-most boxes may be scattered onto and within cells of lower combs and on the bottom board. Once re-inhabited by bees, the comb is cleaned, mold removed, debris and bee bread/brood remains cleaned and cells readied for queen egg laying. Badly degraded overwintered comb should be used sparingly in weaker/newly started spring colonies; wait until they are stronger and more populous.
weak bee colonies; deadouts
Berlow, Rusty. 2016. Physics for beekeepers: mold in a beehive. https://www.honeybeesuite.com/physics-for-beekeepers-mold-in-a-beehive/
Kulhanek, Chris. 2015. I prepped my honey bees for winter, but they died. What happened?
https://beeinformed.org/2015/03/30/i-prepped-my-honey-bees-for-winter-but-they-died-what-happened/
