A close look at one of our bees, which are Carniolans, imported from New Zealand.
We opened the hive on Saturday to put in a new bottle of sugar syrup for the bees to eat, and inspected the brood chamber to see how the girls are doing in their new home. Though we were unable to identify the queen (who isn't marked as some producers do), they seem to be settling in, building comb and storing nectar and sugar syrup. I was unable to identify any eggs having been laid, but will look back again next weekend in hopes of finding signs that the queen has started to lay eggs and increase her colony. There were a lot of bees covering the small amount of comb, and I didn't want to disturb their work more than necessary.
They're using the top bars as intended, and building comb for the brood nest on several of them. Here you can see a daisy chain of bees to one side.
And a close-up of their comb:
Adrian said it best - 'wow.'
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