I am .... concerned .. about using the honey from a colony that died
this winter.
The hive consist(ed) of two deeps, a medium super and a baggie feeder on
top. They had just started drawing out the super.
The bottom deep has some pollen covered with greenish-gray mold and 6 or
7 sealed supercedure cells. Last summer's grease patty is gone.
The upper deep box is chock-full of honey, which I assume is mostly
stored syrup from sept/october feedings. Throughout the 6 middle frames
about 20 cells contain a bee who died nose-in(licking the bottom of the
cell?). Between frames 6 and 7 is a tiny clump of dead bees - I would
guess no more than 300 total - all dry as a bone.
This hive is 15 miles from Seattle - cool, not cold, but wet all
winter. It would be great to start my new packages with the honey and I
assume after the colonies build-up some they would clean up the pollen
frames as well.