Peter- 

I commonly see lots of non-pollen, non-nosema "things" under the microscope when I look at the sick/dying bees in the winter. 

I don't really know what I'm looking at, usually. Randy can say "yeast" and so I say "yeast" but I don't know for sure. In Etienne's hives with honeydew, yes, we suspected there may be "yeasts," based on Randy's posts and I question I asked him at the BCHPA Kelowna meeting. 

However, not being a microbiologist, my only reference is I think yeasts are bigger than nosema spores and while I have seen things that are larger than nosema and therefore conclude they are "yeast," what often catches my attention in recently dead winter bees in the snow out front are the things that are smaller than nosema spores, which I'm guessing are bacteria. 

For example, last year I was often seeing actively budding little round balls that were smaller than nosema spores. There were reports last winter from neighbouring beekeepers of bees dying out front of the hives in larger numbers than usual and I saw it in my hives too. I looked at four or five samples from my own hives and others and they all had high numbers of the little round budding balls. 

I haven't seen the little balls this year, but yesterday I was seeing a high number of little rods squiggling like worms or bloodsuckers (also smaller than nosema spores). And my poor bee guts are liquified goo, they're not really guts anymore. The gut walls are gone. 

To answer your question more directly- in Etienne's hives, yes, we suspected there may be "yeasts" (based on Randy's posts) and that was with his honeydew honey. 

But the guts of dead winter bees can have a lot of "things" in them that go beyond "yeasts" and nosema spores, from what I've seen. I prefer the dead bees from the healthy hives, where the guts are clean with only pollen and maybe the odd nosema spore. Apologies for not addressing the honeydew connection very well. I simply don't know. 

Thanks for the article on fungal spores in honey and honeydew, Georges. That's an interesting read too. I always enjoy the references this listserv exposes me to.  

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