April 15

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8 days since hiving now. It's warm and the bees are flying. Those blue lines on the front are what I call the "address". Bees see blue really well and remember patterns. The other hive has a different pattern.

Today I'm determined to look for signs of eggs or brood. No bee brush today.


About 5 frames in this one have some drawn comb. Looks to be about 50% built up. By watching for a while I could look down into the cells. Lots of pollen. Lots of liquid which I assume to be syrup. No eggs that I can see even with a magnifying glass. No cells are sealed.



I looked for queens but didn't find any. That could simply mean that I don't know how to look for them yet.







This doesn't look like great news. I think it's a
supersedure cell structure. Not a sign of a strong queen at all. If there's no queen they won't have fertile eggs to make one of their own so supersedure would be hopeless. Might be time to order queens. Off to ask at BeeSource.

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Late update:

Had a nice conversation with the good folks at the Beesource message board. The structure is just burr comb. I can't see eggs because of the white background. No cells are capped because it's too early. Life is good. Thanks!