I opened up my hive today. It has been cold, (below freezing every night and cold during the day) for two weeks. It was warm today. I have not . There are not very many bees, which I guess is due to the time of year, but there were capped brood cells. Part of the brood pattern was normal and part was rather odd. There were small spots of brood mixed in with honey and some pollen. I have the hive on two deeps. The bees do not seem to like building on the plastic foundation. I checkerboarded some empty plastic foundation frames into the middle of the brood and honey frames about 2 months ago, but it did not do any good. Most of those frames are still completely empty. Some have a little bit of comb started, but it is thin and not drawn out far.
My main concern is that about 6 or 7 of the 20 frames in the hive have empty comb or the slightly drawn out comb I mentioned above. Most of the empty comb in the hive is discolored. It looks like it is burnt. It is light brown at the foundation end and dark brown to almost black at the cap end. I have never heard of anything like that. Does anyone know what that might be?
My main concern is that about 6 or 7 of the 20 frames in the hive have empty comb or the slightly drawn out comb I mentioned above. Most of the empty comb in the hive is discolored. It looks like it is burnt. It is light brown at the foundation end and dark brown to almost black at the cap end. I have never heard of anything like that. Does anyone know what that might be?