1st time hive inspection

[dorado]

I brought my hive home two weeks ago yesterday. It was started with a queen and 3 frames of brood at that time. I opened the box today for the first time. I had comb on the tops of the frames and the underside of the inner cover that already had some capped honey. This was my first time opening a hive and I was very happy with how well the bees took my intrusion.

My plan was to see how many frames had been drawn out and add a second hive body if enough were drawn. I pulled the frames out starting from the right side. There was nothing on the right or left end frames and the frames next to those were mostly drawn, but nothing in them yet. The other frames were covered in bees front and back. I did not pull the middle frames because they were so full of comb I was unsure how much to trim them down if at all. I did loosen all of the frames and gently pushed them back together when I finished.

I wanted to get the comb on the top of the frames and the comb from the bottom of the inner cover cleaned off. I felt it was best to get in get out with out too much disturbance this time. I did go ahead and add the second body as I closed up the hive.

Should I go back in next weekend and remove all frames this time and trim the small bulges from the sides of the frames or are things going as should be expected?

[Miss Chick-a-BEE]

All that sounds normal. I would trim up the bits of burr comb they've built here and there. If you don't, you'll have a huge mess in no time. I always hate it when they build comb on the top or bottom of the frames, then fill it with brood. Makes me feel bad to have to take it down and discard the larvae, but when I've left it, the problem only gets worse.

Beth