general fitness, brood, queen, hive build up, mites, observation board.Looked at board first. It had about a hundred dead bees on it. I later figured out that this was because I had put the board in when the bees were still getting oriented, and many of them had been trying to enter through the screen, where they smelled the hive. When I'd put the board in place it had trapped them in. Bummer. There was pollen on the board as well, sign of preparing for brood.
A lot of bees drinking the syrup. Building spur comb.
Went right to brood box. Nice centered pattern of bees on the top bars. Looking at the middle frame, I see a little bit of queen cup (this should be checked on at next inspection), uncapped honey/syrup, pollen, capping honey. Then I saw eggs. Probably all fine, but need to check in ten days on the capped brood, make sure it's worker and not drone brood from a laying Queen. Pollen up against the eggs.
They hadn't yet filled out the seven frames I'd given them. Just fine with what they have.
When I take a box off, always remember to know which is front, which is back.
These bees seem small to me. I wonder if they came from a small-cell hive. They ARE Marin bees.
No sign of mites.
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