I decided on a whim to buy two additional packages of bees. Originally, I had ordered one package and one nuc. The additional packages both came from Tom Johnson.
The second and third hive installation went smoothly. Set up the hive, uncork the candy end of the queen cage, place her in between the center frames, dump the bees in. Package installation would be a very monotonous task if you had a day's worth of packages to install.
The first hive has a good three or four frames full of worker brood. I initially had trouble telling the difference between worker brood and drone brood. Beeks say that capped drone brood looks like cap-colored Cocoa Puffs. But, worker brood looks like a flatter version of drone brood. What about the ones that look like they're in between? To a newbeek, you really have to see both on the same frame to develop an eye for it. For now, look at this sample image I found somewhere:
http://i.imgur.com/tmI83.jpg
All in all, the first hive looked okay. I expected to see more capped honey after two weeks, but I suppose they're still ramping up. I'll check on hives two and three again in a week, weather permitting.
The first hive has a good three or four frames full of worker brood. I initially had trouble telling the difference between worker brood and drone brood. Beeks say that capped drone brood looks like cap-colored Cocoa Puffs. But, worker brood looks like a flatter version of drone brood. What about the ones that look like they're in between? To a newbeek, you really have to see both on the same frame to develop an eye for it. For now, look at this sample image I found somewhere:
http://i.imgur.com/tmI83.jpg
All in all, the first hive looked okay. I expected to see more capped honey after two weeks, but I suppose they're still ramping up. I'll check on hives two and three again in a week, weather permitting.
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