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Author Topic: Newbee 1st inspection question  (Read 2071 times)

Offline indypartridge

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Newbee 1st inspection question
« on: May 26, 2005, 11:28:04 am »
I installed my 4-frame nuc a week ago. Since then, the bees have been busy working the tulip poplar trees and apparently ignoring the many irises in the flower garden. I did my first inspection yesterday afternoon - one week after installing the nuc. I had a 2nd deep ready to add, but didn't. They really hadn't drawn much comb on the foundation - a little on the two frames closest to the four nuc frames, but not nearly as much as I had expected. (Yes, I'm feeding, and they have taken about a quart and half of 1:1 in the last week.)

The bees were gentle, but I'm sure the gloves saved my hands from stings. Didn't see the queen, but there were a few clumps of bees that she may have been under. There seemed to be plenty of brood. Saw honey cells, drone cells, larva, and pollen, BUT there wasn't any discernable pattern - it all seemed to be very random - nothing like the "good brood pattern" pictures!

Question: The frames were sort of polka-dotted with open cells filled with a very dark substance - looked like dirty motor oil. Any idea what this is?

Online Michael Bush

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Newbee 1st inspection question
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2005, 01:05:51 pm »
>The bees were gentle, but I'm sure the gloves saved my hands from stings.

Probably not, but sometimes they do.  I usually wear gloves unless I have a good reason not to.

>BUT there wasn't any discernable pattern - it all seemed to be very random - nothing like the "good brood pattern" pictures!

It takes a while before all the brood the queen lays gets capped and until then it may look a bit random.  It's never as pretty as the pcitures.  As long as it isn't shotgun (like every other cell empty) I wouldn't worry too much.

>Question: The frames were sort of polka-dotted with open cells filled with a very dark substance - looked like dirty motor oil. Any idea what this is?

Is it transparent?  Is is opaque?  Buckwheat honey looks like blackstrap molasses.  Pollen comes in every color in the rainbow including dark brown, but pollen is always opaque looking.
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