So I went into my swarms which are 4 and 6 weeks old and took a couple comparison pics for fun. Please let me know if you think I am off base with what I think I am seeing.

First is the DeerPark swarm caught on 4/12 I think this swarm is doing well although only filling up half each frame right now with comb. There is alot of capped brood, consistently together and I feel I have a laying queen. I expect this one to just grow as the brood hatches...

deerParkSwarmMay12.jpg

Second is the Petaluma Swarm caught on 3/28.... I think the queen is gone. My iphone got overheated so few pictures but what I saw was empty comb and honey filled comb....a few capped brood here and there and not together and the bees are dwindling fast in number. This was a BIG swarm so I am thinking virgin queen who flew out and never came back?

PetalumaSwarmNoCapbrood.jpg

I took a frame of brood/ open cells which I hope has eggs from my Italian hive which is doing really, really well (2 full boxes of brood) and put it in. I can't see eggs at this point in my newbeeness so am taking a chance. When should I check again to see if the workers are creating a queen cell?

Now I will try and post the pics...