Hi I have just drained some honey from my flow hive and noticed some maggots in it. Do I throw it away or remove them? Why are they there? Thanks
The maggots could be hive beetle or wax moth larvae. They may have been in the trough before you harvested the honey. I think, just see how the honey tastes. If it doesn’t taste good, discard it. A photo would help determine whether they are wax moth or beetle larvae. Wax moth larvae wouldn’t be too bad. I would be more cautious with beetle larvae, because it can send honey rancid quickly.
I think a good policy would be to do a sniff test of the channels before harvest, based on recent experience. For a client, I noticed every channel that contained honey, smelt rancid, which needed cleaning out before harvest.
Channels that contained wax moth debris, without honey, had no offensive odor.
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