I installed 2 packages of bees into new equipment on Monday afternoon. I was supposed to check yesterday to see if the queen had been released from her cage but the weather was cold and windy so I waited until this afternoon.
Hive one: Bees were very loud and fussy when I first started checking the hive, the longer I stayed the louder they got. Queen cage empty. Lots of nectar and some pollen in the frame of drawn comb that I put in the hive when I housed the bees. Comb being drawn on a couple more frames. Lot's of bees flying around the hive entrance while I was in the box, and I was in it for a while checking for the queen.
Hive two: Bees were very calm, queen cage empty, frame of drawn comb full of nectar and pollen. Queen was located, but no eggs seen. There were 3 queen cells being made on the frame of drawn comb. I removed them. Some comb being drawn on a couple more frames.
The hive I got from a swarm, seems okay but I don't fully understand much about all this. There are 2 frames that have been fully drawn. Eggs are in less than 20% of the cells. The others are full of nectar, pollen and it looks like they are making honey in some too. There were eggs in cells on one of the frames on Tuesday. I thought there would be larvae in those cells today (4 days later) but they still looked like eggs. A few of the cells had 2 eggs right in the center, but the vast majority had one.
Is the queen still in hive one? That was the first hive I checked, and I didn't see her. I rechecked it after checking the other two and still didn't see her. I know it would be possible to miss seeing her.
Hive 2: Why the queen cells? I didn't see an egg in those cells, but they looked to have nectar in them like most of the others. Do they put nectar in cells with eggs? I wouldn't think so, but I have no idea about this.
Hive 3, the captured swarm hive. Why so few cells with eggs in the frames or is it normal to have the majority of a frame be nectar, pollen and honey with maybe 15% egg cells?
Trying not to panic.........