[BeeSpeckled]

I took this picture yesterday. The capped cells in the middle don't look like I was expecting. The ones around the edges are what I was expecting them to look like.

Any thoughts if those are normal looking?

Thanks.

 

[Gumpy]

Not a great picture, but that looks like honey to me.

 

[AHudd]

It looks like Drone laid in worker cells around the edges and worker brood in the center to me.

Alex

 

[Mike Gillmore]

Center cappings look a little dark. My guess is capped honey in the worker brood cells.

 

[crofter]

From my memory, drones developing in worker size cells have a bit more bullet nosed projection than than those around the outside of the picture. Scratch a few each kind of cells and tell us what you find.

 

[jim lyon]

Looks within the range of fairly normal worker brood caps to me.

 

[Gray Goose]

looks ok, the outer one are fresher, inner ones older.

 

[Apis Natural]

hard to tell, if not honey, the only disease with sunken caps and dark cells is efb. the larvae die after their cell has been sealed, the cap may be perforated, sunken, concave and dark.

to bad pic is so small. so it's hard to read

you need to scratch some cells open to see what’s going on...

 

[crofter]

hard to tell, if not honey, the only disease with sunken caps and dark cells is efb. the larvae die after their cell has been sealed, the cap may be perforated, sunken, concave and dark.

to bad pic is so small. so it's hard to read

you need to scratch some cells open to see what’s going on...

Perhaps you did a typo; EFB larvae usually die before capping. AFB is the one that typically show the sunken cappings.

It is more common to see a ring of capped honey cells surrounding capped brood, but aside from that I think that central capped cells in the picture are honey with "wet cappings" as opposed to honey cells capped with an air space and so called "white cappings".

Scratch some of them open!

 

[little_john]

They look ok to me - sometimes worker cappings are a little crinkled, sometimes just a little domed - but not fully bullet-headed, which are drones developing within worker cells. Within the normal range of appearance, I'd say.
LJ

 

[little_john]

... but it was far from being an unreasonable question - because if you look at this photograph (of a 14" deep frame being reduced to 12", 'on the fly'):



the cappings at upper right would pass for brood cappings. But - when seen in a wider context, they're clearly stores cappings - of a very unattractive colour.



Cappings can sometimes be confusing at first sight.
LJ

 

[BeeSpeckled]

Thank you all. Very helpful.

 

[kaizen]

Thank you all. Very helpful.

I'd do a mite count. those empty cells are most likely due to mites or could be the queen not 100percent laying. Overall good frame. You probably need more room if they are putting pollen in those empty cells.

 

[AHudd]

Yep, those in the center could be honey. Poke one with a tooth-pick. Enquiring minds want to know.

Alex

 

[BeeSpeckled]

I'd do a mite count. those empty cells are most likely due to mites or could be the queen not 100percent laying. Overall good frame. You probably need more room if they are putting pollen in those empty cells.

I added another medium (I'm using three mediums instead of two deeps) cause I thought my current two were getting pretty full. I plan on doing a mite count in a week or two.

 

[BeeSpeckled]

Yep, those in the center could be honey. Poke one with a tooth-pick. Enquiring minds want to know.

Alex

Next inspection. I'm trying not to be into it too much.

 

[Gumpy]

I'd do a mite count. those empty cells are most likely due to mites or could be the queen not 100percent laying. Overall good frame. You probably need more room if they are putting pollen in those empty cells.

Actually, it's pretty obvious the frame is a wired foundationless frame and most of the open holes are over wires.

 

[JWPalmer]

I totally agree with Gumpy on the open cells over wires. I have a bunch of wired fondation frames with a similar pattern, nice stright lines where the wire is. One of the many reasons I went foundationless this year and use monofilament.

 

[kaizen]

Actually, it's pretty obvious the frame is a wired foundationless frame and most of the open holes are over wires.

Not to a plastic guy lol. I'll agree now that you point out the pattern.

 

[DanielD]

To me it looks like it was a full honey frame they wintered on and didn't use the stores in the center of the frame, then brood has been laid up around the capped stores. Do they have plenty of room in the hive? Or, it could be what little john is pointing out.