Frothy Nectar

General Discussion of Diary Posts and Questions on Beekeeping Matters
Post Reply
User avatar
Countryboy
Forum Regular
Posts: 605
Joined: November 8th, 2010, 9:37 pm
Location: Central Ohio
Contact:

Frothy Nectar

Unread post by Countryboy »

I had a late swarm move into a 5 frame nuc box about a week ago. I got into the nuc today. There were bees on 3 frames.

One frame on one side was worker cells, and had open nectar. (The nectar would drip out of the frame when you tilted it, the nectar was so watery.)
The middle frame had a patch of open brood.
The frame on the other side was mainly drone cells, and it was full of nectar.

The nectar in the cells was frothy. All the nectar was frothy and full of little bubbles.

The past week we have been having temperatures in the high 80's to low 90's. We are having a good goldenrod and aster flow right now.

Do bees sometimes put air bubbles into nectar when they regurgitate it into cells? Is the nectar trying to ferment faster than the bees can dry it down?

Anyone ever see anything like this before?
B. Farmer Honey
Central Ohio
Allen Dick
Site Admin
Posts: 1824
Joined: February 25th, 2003, 10:09 pm
Location: Swalwell, Alberta
Contact:

Re: Frothy Nectar

Unread post by Allen Dick »

My guess would be fermentation.
Allen Dick, RR#1 Swalwell, Alberta, Canada T0M 1Y0
51° 33'39.64"N 113°18'52.45"W
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/Allen%27s%20Beehives.kmz
Forum owner/janitor
---
Customise your experience at Honeybeeworld Forum at your User control Panel
Change the appearance and layout with your Board Preferences
Please upload your own avatar picture at Edit Avatar. It's easy!
Return to main diary page
Post Reply