# What to do with moldy honey?



## Vincent (Dec 22, 2013)

Coming out of winter here in Australia I found a couple of my hives have supers where uncapped honey fermented, and some frames have mold growing on them. Furry mold of several colours. 

Among the mold and the fermented nectar there is also quite a bit of capped honey, and I'm wondering what to do with it. Should it be safe to go back to the bees, or even to extract? Can I wash the mold and the fermented stuff out of the comb with a hose, and the capped honey will stay nice and dry?

A number of the hives, including these ones, had bad moisture problems. I suspect I left them with too many boxes to look after through winter, and I'll try to improve ventilation. But my immediate concern is this honey.

Any advice appreciated, cheers.


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## hagane (Aug 15, 2015)

sorry I don't know myself....but I can maybe say I wonder too how much distance/turf between the mold and healthy looking capped stuff you have to also safely let go as a healthy barrier might be part of the question too? If there is mold that's visible, how much is there that's also less visible?


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## rmcpb (Aug 15, 2012)

Personally, I would cut my losses and chuck it. Clean up the frames and reuse them later.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

The bees will recycle and sort and clean it up if you give them a chance. I would put the moldy mess on a bottom board, put a queen excluder over it and stack your hive body/ies on top of that and a super on top to store the moved honey. At any rate the bees will clean up the mess. Good luck and take honey when it is given is my principle. Good luck sir.


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## Vincent (Dec 22, 2013)

Thank you, everyone. I'll take the advice on board and try to salvage what I can.


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## hagane (Aug 15, 2015)

Well...just five minutes ago I stumbled upon this... and it may shed some light on your problem. I hope at any rate it helps. I confess I am a newbie, so feel free to adapt or ignore. I was reading in "A Complete Guide to the Mystery and Management of Bees (1852), By William White and James Beasley, on page 41 it addressed candied honey as an issue and spoiled honey. By candied he doesn't mean our word for candy but I think he means spoiled honey...but to be fair he doesn't exactly use the word 'mold'. It's also true that they are referring to their experiences with bees around the early 1800s and late 1700s ( some of the dates in the book are post revolutionary war) and this can mean they might not have used the same bee species as we are using now. 

He says that if the smell of the honey is spoiled or messed up it can cause the bees to start leaving or deserting the hive ( page 41 ), or that it can upset the order of the hive possibly including the queen. 

At any rate I have to give credit to the book, and didn't know about this before reading it just now. I am curious how it will turn out.


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## Pete O (Jul 13, 2013)

Not knowing how much honey is involved, I would suggest several flat trays with UV florescent lights above. That would promote a reduction of water content and destroy fungus. It wouldn't be difficult to try and could be quite cost effective.


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