Hi,
Any thoughts - this is my tray, have not checked it for a few weeks now.
Lots of honey smell last few days.
Unsure why there is some liquid in bottom tray - see photo, there was more however husband tipped rest out, was double this amount. Smells like honey.
Thinking we should open the hive and inspect.
Appreciate any assistance ! Live on Tamborine Mountain, Qld.
Thanks!
Lyza 
Your hive is probably being overrun and slimed out by Small hive beetles, but I would need to see inside to confirm that.
You should be checking the tray weekly.
Yes- in the ideal world weekly checking would occur.
I guess this is possible - however I replace the Apithor every 3 months.
Other ideas?
Kind regards
Lyza
An Apithor harbourage is next to useless if you put it in the bottom tray.
It’s called a small hive beetle harbourage as it was designed so the bees can drive the SHB into the trap and keep them there long enough to die from the poison. If the bees can’t get to the trap itself it doesn’t work.
As I said earlier you should be looking inside the hive at the earliest opportunity. If they are being slimed out by beetles you are probably too late.
The only other thing that could cause a tray to look like that is a long term build up of detritus combined with an excessive buildup of moisture.
Thanks for the advice… I am learning… have had the hive for 2 years. No issues to date, Sth East Queensland is known for shb.
Planning to inspect tomorrow… if I find a slim out I presume that means removing all and disposing ?
Unfortunately it’s almost the entire east coast that is affected and I hope it’s not a slimeout that’s occurring in your hive.
When it happened to me last year the first sign was bearding but it was also a very hot day, on closer inspection there were workers removing masses of damaged brood, and hundreds of beetle larvae falling through the screened bottom.
I opened a hive of very demoralised bees to find five out of ten brood frames destroyed and crawling with larvae, they had not moved into the almost full honey super at all. I removed the damaged frames to a bucket of water and chlorine, replaced the damaged frames with new foundation and just before putting the lid on I found the queen on the outside of the brood box with her attendants which was lucky.
Put her back in closed them up took the honey super away and they just pulled through to rebuild over the rest of summer.
If the slimeout has already happened them salvage what you can and clean it up if possible and be carful of the slime as it contains yeast that can make some people quite ill.
Well good news from Tamborine Mountain - we inspected both the super and broodbox.
No slime out or other signs of SHB so we are relieved.
Hoping the spring weather brings lots of plants into flower and that the bees thrive and progress.
I will be keeping a close eye on that bottom tray.
Thanks for the advice and support. It’s all part of the bee learning journey.
Cheers
Lyza
Perhaps this is the cause of the liquid in bottom tray …was posted similar. Mild weather and lots and lots of foraging …we live in a very lush hinterland area of Queensland.
It’s great that it wasn’t SHB and yes it was probably just a water leak or condensation build up, but a tray like that is a breeding ground for bad things including SHB.
I’m very pedantic about bottom trays but I am also a plumber so removing waste is my profession, my view is they must be kept clean and as dry as possible.
The Flow gabled roofs are gaining some notoriety for their leaky nature and even the creator himself has advised sealing any gaps with silicone etc.
You can probably ditch the Apithor and put the money toward oil or DE powder for your tray.
I think your onto something there about the moisture being a possible water leak in the roof, especially if the roof is the original type roof. Mount Tambourine is a high rainfall area and high humidity. The original roof was so bad for water leaking Flow had to redesign the roof.
Cheers Steve