I opened the hive up the other day for a full inspection. It is the first time I have done so. It is also the first time I have had bees so differentiating between capped honey and brood has proved to be a bit of a challenge for me (drone brood is easy to spot). I am sure it will all make sense in time. If anyone has any pointers, they are always appreciated.
looks like brood to me, nice pattern although don't get a very long look at it usually you can see through the cappings into the honey and it is pretty obvious that its honey. if you see flat opaque cap pings all of the same color with the occasional empty cell you can be pretty sure its brood. I would start wearing a veil if it was me, sooner or later you will open the hive when they are a little cranky and your eyes and face are a very attractive target !
White band at the top is honey, big patch in the middle is capped and uncapped brood. Friendly pointer, learn how to rotate your top bar frames while inspecting and wear at the very least a veil, but you will learn this soon enough. Your colony looks to be off to a great start.
That comb looks great! They have pulled nice straight comb. I don't recommend that you wait that long though on a new package. If they had pulled cross comb you would have had a huge mess on your hands to clean up. +1 on the veil. Vision is a precious thing, losing it on a hobby is ill advised.
Thanks Shannonswyatt - good advice. I was checking via the window and by sliding the bars apart every few days, but I wasn't doing the full inspections previously. Today I did however perform another inspection (with jacket and hood ) and things are looking good. Now that there are so may bees they are building comb quite quickly - one comb right on the seam between bars. I will start checking more frequently now that they have moved into high gear. Thanks for the guidance.
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