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I installed 2 packages of Carnis on 4/17 and opened the hives today. Great news! Plenty of worker brood in both the Lang and Warre. The Lang is foundationless frame from Walter T. Kelley installed in a medium from Brushy Mtn. The Warre is of course, just a top bar.

The bees have completely drawn out 7 of 8 bars in the Warre and 6 of 8 in the Lang. (The Lang box is bigger.)

I've uploaded some pics. My inexperienced eye doesn't see much drone brood. Overall, does this look like a healthy pattern?

I just received my hive top feeder for the Warre, so that bees have drawn that one out almost entirely with nectar. I've noticed that about twice as many bees returning to the Lang with loaded pollen baskets compared to the Warre. I'm guessing they made this adjustment because the bees in the Lang have access to sugar water. Does that make sense?

OK, what's next? I noticed some poplar blooms on the ground today. Are we near the end of the nectar flow? Thanks.

Paul

The frames look good to me. You have nice developing patterns of worker brood, nectar, and, if you look between the nectar and the brood, you will probably see pollen stores. You really don't want to see much drone brood at this stage and you really don't want to see it scattered among the worker brood, as this indicates a poorly mated queen or one that is starting to fail.

Different hives will bring in nectar and pollen at different rates, and some will start later in the morning than others, or work in cooler conditions. It probably has to do with the genetic mix in the hive. If one looks much more lethargic than the others at various times of the day, it warrants an inspection.

We are all wondering about the flow this year. Everything started early, including the tulip poplars. You can use the link on our home page to see the typical time frame for nectar producing plants in the piedmont, and you will see that this year is unusual. Some of us are concerned that this means there will be an extended dearth starting earlier than normal, requiring a longer period of feeding bees sugar water or having them starve. It may mean that those wanting honey will have to keep a closer watch and take frames as they are capped or risk having the bees consume it or move it to unextractable areas. Then again, if plants keep producing nectar, it may mean a large honey crop. We just have to watch and wait and act upon what we see.

Thanks for taking a look. The Warre hive is very active, and is drawing comb just as fast as the Lang. It will be interesting to see if the foraging pattern changes when I add the top-feeder.

Paul