weak colony, something amber in a few cells

Looks like pollen/bee bread

Cloverdale said:

Looks like pollen/bee bread

Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply. So this is a good thing.

This is my first attempt are being a beekeeper. Installed two packages on April 16, 2014. Both colonies have lost their queen or they stopped laying and I can't find them. Workers are laying, creating queen cells and drone cells.
I have Keith S. Delapane's "First Lessons in Beekeeping" and Walter T. Kelly's "How to Keep Bees & Sell Honey" for reference.

Yes, pollen/ bee bread is good...if you don't have a queen, the bees will make a queen with new eggs laid by a queen...workers should not lay eggs or you will have a laying worker hive which will be drones (because worker bees are not mated so no females can be made only males) and will die. Take a look at Michael Bushs book (The Practical Beekeeper) he has it available to read for free. Take lots of classes, read lots of books, find a mentor, find your local bee club....there is so much to learn about honey bees and managing them...consider them farm animals and take care of them in that way. And, don't forget they are bugs!