May 24th packages installed May 5th
Italian Hive:
My dad checked this one alone so not many pics. He got a picture of the queen though. They have built combs on 12 bars (mostly some sort of partial combs, many nearly complete but some halves). Lots of capped brood and stores look good.
Carniolan Hive:
Checked with this my dad this morning. I tried to tell him this hive was stronger than the Italian one when we last looked, but he didn't believe me. When we got done today he said "you were right". These three pictures are of the same top bar, there were six that looks nearly identical to this one. Built on a total of 10, 7-8 of them are fully built and a few partials. Probably roughly the same amount of comb as the other hive in total. EVERY cell has an egg in it. This queen is certainly out laying the comb production by a wide margin (which I'm sure they're fully capable of when they're well mated).
Six bars wall-to-wall of capped brood and a mix of eggs/larva/capped on the other ones. A few drone cells in each hive, but no big patches yet. The Carniolan's had started to cap some stores on top of the frames, so that's good. Dad didn't notice if the Italian hive had or not. Neat to see what a couple of good queens can do! Their laying ability is absolutely amazing.
Outstanding number of huge pollen baskets rolling in the whole time we were checking the hive. Super calm bees. I'll be interested to see how/if that changes when they are stronger. Both hive have as close to perfectly straight comb as I can imagine them building. We have done zero comb manipulations since install.
Italian Hive:
My dad checked this one alone so not many pics. He got a picture of the queen though. They have built combs on 12 bars (mostly some sort of partial combs, many nearly complete but some halves). Lots of capped brood and stores look good.

Carniolan Hive:
Checked with this my dad this morning. I tried to tell him this hive was stronger than the Italian one when we last looked, but he didn't believe me. When we got done today he said "you were right". These three pictures are of the same top bar, there were six that looks nearly identical to this one. Built on a total of 10, 7-8 of them are fully built and a few partials. Probably roughly the same amount of comb as the other hive in total. EVERY cell has an egg in it. This queen is certainly out laying the comb production by a wide margin (which I'm sure they're fully capable of when they're well mated).



Six bars wall-to-wall of capped brood and a mix of eggs/larva/capped on the other ones. A few drone cells in each hive, but no big patches yet. The Carniolan's had started to cap some stores on top of the frames, so that's good. Dad didn't notice if the Italian hive had or not. Neat to see what a couple of good queens can do! Their laying ability is absolutely amazing.
Outstanding number of huge pollen baskets rolling in the whole time we were checking the hive. Super calm bees. I'll be interested to see how/if that changes when they are stronger. Both hive have as close to perfectly straight comb as I can imagine them building. We have done zero comb manipulations since install.