One for one

I finally had time to open up both hives today. They've clearly been bringing in lots of nectar from the red clover. That's good. The West Hive had lots of capped brood. That Queen is very productive although the Beast seemed a little pissy.
The East type on the other hand which seem quieter in temperament, had no Queen. I've got to get one in there soon or the population will begin to dwindle. The frame of brood and eggs I had put in there a couple of weeks ago did not develop any Queen.
Saw no signs of mites in either box and populations were pretty decent. Both have honey supers to make sure any Queen has enough room to lay.
Need to test for mites soon.

Checking in, hummmm

Today is April's Fool's Day, and I hope it's not really. I checked in on the two hives.

The west hive with one brood box was quiet, had capped brood, uncapped larvae, good stocks, no real pests. Felt pretty good about it and about its queen.

The east box, with a full honey super on, has a good number of bees (see photo), but I saw no new white wax indicating young bees. I saw no capped brood, and I couldn't identify eggs. There was one small hive beetle that I saw when I open the box up. Their attitude was quiet but active. 

To balance the two boxes, I took one frame from the West box, of partially capped brood that had eggs and larvae on the other side and put it into this brood box. 

I did not see any queen cells in the west box. I saw only open queen cells, which I had expected in the east box. 

I'm thinking that even if the queen has emerged and has been successfully mated, she not started laying yet -- lots of bees, but no brood or eggs. None of the additional frames had been built out.  Remember, I had been testing the mid-bar style frame with dowels through the center,

I do like the nature of these two boxes -- very quiet not aggressive.

We'll see what happens. I'll leave it alone for another two weeks. They've got plenty of supplies and should be stable.