white sugary liquid on bottom board

[Gerard]

Did a quick check of the hive but saw no living bees. Frames full of honey in top deep. Only pulled two frames as it was pretty cool. Removed entrance reducer and moved a stick across the bottom. Removed a couple hundred dead bees and a sticky, thick white liquid that had a lightly sweet taste. Anyone know what it could be? It seemed to cover the bottom board. Not a whole lot, but enough to coat the stick.

[Gerard]

Checked the hives today and the bees are gone.  They apparently absconded from both my Langstroth and top bar hive in late fall.  Lots of capped honey in both, and a few hundred dead bees on the bottom boards.  The white stuff appeared to be slightly crystallized sugar syrup, nothing more.  Don't know why they left as they were a strong colony all season long and produced 240# in the supers, as well what is in the frames in the deeps.  We'll extract the honey from the deep frames as it isn't crystallized and tastes really good.  Any ideas on why they would've left?

[Gerard]

Checked the hives today and the bees are gone although there is lots of capped honey in both the Langstroth and the top bar hive.  There were just a couple of hundred dead bees on the bottom boards.  The sticky substance I was concerned with yesterday is probably just syrup from the fall feedings.  In early October there were a lot of bees around for the first feeding, but they didn't seem to care for the second feeding.  I think I now know why.  They weren't there.  Any ideas on why they would have absconded at that time?

 

On Friday, March 29, 2013 4:13:35 PM UTC-5, Gerard wrote:

[likes bees]

sometimes - some of the honey cells "explode" over winter.
my GUESS would be it's not fully cured - maybe slightly fermented/crystallizing honey that pushes itself out of the cell.
sometimes you see some of these cells...dripping down frames as well.

On Friday, March 29, 2013 4:13:35 PM UTC-5, Gerard wrote: