thanks for all the replies. The honey was inside, next to my water heater (to warm it up) and still soo thick it would not drip through the filters. I am just east of St. Mike's HS. No mites. I did my preventative medicine in the fall. I tried to attach some pics but was denied. Might have been a second queen in the hive based on the appearance of the comb on the frames. On Tue, Apr 11, 2023 at 3:57 PM O <reserveshop@gmail.com> wrote:

Honey is thicker at cooler temperatures. If you are opening it now then it's likely thick because of ambient temperature.

Most hives here die from varroa. You can see little while flakes inside of the empty brood cells. If you look online you can find pictures of what it looks like.

On Tue, Apr 11, 2023, 3:35 PM myke smith <homejerk@gmail.com> wrote:

...

Good afternoon. I opened my remaining hive today and everything looks great. Lots of activity and larvae. My second hive, however, decided to abandon ship between thanksgiving and Christmas. Not sure why, but they did. But the also left most of their honey. Very dark and thick, almost like molasses. Would someone explain why the honey is so thick and dark? Previous hives in the Middle East were not as thick or as dark.

TIA. _______________________________________________ hive mailing list hive@lists.sdcbeeks.org http://lists.sdcbeeks.org/listinfo.cgi/hive-sdcbeeks.org