this laying pattern looks too irregular to me

[Mklangelo]

According to my observations, the first of the brood should have been capped about Sunday of this week.

[Kathyp]

i see larve in the uncapped cells.  how many frames have brood on them?  is this from the middle or outside?

[Mklangelo]

i see larve in the uncapped cells.  how many frames have brood on them?  is this from the middle or outside?

I see the larva too. They look in to be in the end of the Young Larval stage.  So eggs layed adjacent to each other may develop at different speeds.

This a middle frame.  If memory serves me, there are at least two frames with brood.  I think one of the hives had brood on three frames.   

In one of the hives the workers seem to be drawing more cells out in preparation for the upcoming population increase in about 10 days.  I know that the population is still in decline.

[buzzbee]

MKLangelo,
I watch the queen in my observation hive go all over the place laying. She will appear to inspect a cell and sometimes move on or turn around and lay in it. I've seen her go from one side of the frame to the back and then to the next frame. When she got busy the capped pattern was full until they started to emerge.
Their emergence was here and there as well as the laying but not too far apart.
As soon as bees emerge ,the cells are cleaned and she's doing it all over again!

[Kathyp]

is the hive with the queen cells the one with less brood?

[Mklangelo]

is the hive with the queen cells the one with less brood?

I would say yes. 

[Kathyp]

maybe your bees think the need a change of rule?

[Brian D. Bray]

It looks to me like fairly new comb.  I have a similar situation in my hives, the  bees are building comb and being hygenic so the queen will lay eggs in available cells and them move to another frame.  Later she will come back and lay more eggs around the ones already developing.  This appeara to me to be what is happening in your case.  It is normal in a new package or swarm. 

Also, with new swarms or packages the bees will temporarily store nector in cells in the middle of the brood rearing area because they have no other place for it.  As more comb is build the bees tiddy up the area and fill in the brood area with brood and storage area with nector/honey. 

Taking into account a degree of hygenic behaviour and I would have to say your bees, if newly hived, are acting normally.

[Mklangelo]

It looks to me like fairly new comb.  I have a similar situation in my hives, the  bees are building comb and being hygenic so the queen will lay eggs in available cells and them move to another frame.  Later she will come back and lay more eggs around the ones already developing.  This appeara to me to be what is happening in your case.  It is normal in a new package or swarm. 

Also, with new swarms or packages the bees will temporarily store nector in cells in the middle of the brood rearing area because they have no other place for it.  As more comb is build the bees tiddy up the area and fill in the brood area with brood and storage area with nector/honey. 

Taking into account a degree of hygenic behaviour and I would have to say your bees, if newly hived, are acting normally.

That's good to know.  There are some nice fat larva at the bottom of some of those uncapped cells.