Pictures of what a hive should look like.

[Shawn]

Not really sure if this should be in this area or in the picture area. I was wondering if someone or everyone could put up pictures of hives and frames what a good working colony should/would look like. Kind of like I posted on my frames that did not have a queen but a laying worker and how Cindi posted her great pictures of mutiple eggs in a cell. I am more of visual learner and Im sure other people are too. Just thought it would be a good post for people to look at and compare to their hives.

[Moonshae]

Pic pls? 

[Shawn]

Ok, so I guess ill start. Here are a few pictures of my hive that has a feral queen and the hive appears to be doing good. You can see eggs, altough some cells have mutiple eggs at the bottom, larvae at mutiple stages, and capped worker cells.

[tillie]

In the first picture, is that the queen at 3:00 about 1 inch in from the right side of the picture?

Linda T in Atlanta, a poor queen spotter at best.

[rdy-b]

yep good call    RDY-B

[bassman1977]

Good eyes!   

[Greywulff]

I've posted this pic on another thread but I'm sure you won't mind me putting it here

When you have 12 frames like this your hive is doing fine. These are smaller frames than what you use in USA but theres about 1000 cells per frame to give you some idea.



Not hard to spot the Queen when she's marked. It can be really usefull.





Is it ok to post pic this size?

[Shawn]

Yes it was the queen Tillie. Does anyone have any pictures of drone cells on a frame from a good colony?

[Cindi]

Shawn, I think that it may be a bit of a problem for any forum members to send in pictures for you.  You want to see pictures of what a hive "should" look like.  I wonder if everyone is a little worried that they don't have enough of a perfect hive to give you some good examples.  I hope that our forum friends will bring pictures in this topic anyways.  It may be a little bit intimidating to say, yes, "I have the perfect hive to give pictures to this post with", hee, hee.  So, I would say, differently:

If anyone has any pictures that think are pretty good of a pretty good colony, bring 'em on!!!  Do you think this may get more responses this way?  Curious.  I have a picture of some drone on a frame, I think it is a pretty good colony.  Hope this may help.  Have the most wonderful and awesome day, Cindi

Drone cells.  I have lots of pictures of bee stuff, but I wouldn't want to toot that they are "what a hive should look like" 

[Shawn]

Sorry for teh original post. I guess what I should have said is pictures of a good working colony. I know no one has a perfect hive but I thought for beginners to see actual pictures from other peoples hive it might help them to know what to look for. I know Michael has some pictures on his website like "can you find the queen" which I liked. Until the swarm moved into my hive I have not ever "seen" capped worker cells or so many bees and known what to look for. I really enjoy all your pictures of your bees because they are so close and the quality is good. I thought your picture of the eggs was a good example for this post. People could even post bad things about what the hive looks like if there is no queen like I did in the picture section. I look back on those pictures of frames and still cant believe the difference. 

[Bill W.]

Well, it should have eggs:



And larvae:



Healthy hives generally (but not always) have a band of honey, over a band of pollen, surrounding the brood area:





A tight brood pattern is a sign of a good queen:



More at link, although a lot of it is more like, "what your hives should not look like." 

[Shawn]

Wow loves the pictures. The last frame is full of worker cells. Thats so cool. Went to the link and those are good pictures. Where are the drone cells usually at in the hive or do they have a specific place?

[MacfromNS]

Wow , there are some nice pic, so glad you showed us.

[greenismycolor]

Hi All
GREAT PICTURES!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing, I love to see these!

[2-Wheeler]

Here is another showing brood pattern with a productive queen:

More at this link

[Irwin]

Thank's for all the great pic's every one

[Shawn]

2-wheeler, what is all the gray stuff at the top of the frame? I also see the drone cells at the bottom. Is that where they usually are? Your photo is great and very clear!

[mudlakee]

Nice Pictures Thanks  Tony`

[2-Wheeler]

2-wheeler, what is all the gray stuff at the top of the frame? I also see the drone cells at the bottom. Is that where they usually are? Your photo is great and very clear!

That gray stuff is the capped honey.  I'm not sure why it looks gray.  I don't use any separate drone-cell frames, I guess they need a bit more room and find it near the edges.

[bmacior]

Enjoyed the pictures!