Hive Check : Hive beetles and queen cups

I was finally able to get back into my hives today to do some inspections.  I wanted to get out before today but Monday we spent time making our doghouse and yesterday was just too cold and rainy.  I am thankful that today I did not get stung.  I don't seem to be allergic but I do have a local reaction that includes swelling and redness and an insane itch.  Getting stung doesn't hurt it mostly just annoys me.  The last sting occurred because I let a bee crawl up the inside of my pants so I wore protective gaiters over my boots and pant legs.  I have a hard time seeing through the mesh of the veil so I took my camera out with me.  I also found that it was easier to see into the cells with the sun at my back shining onto the frame.


Nuc colony
The morning when I did my check it was pretty cloudy and cold which meant that most of the bees were in the hive.  This hive is doing very well, with two medium supers. The top super is nearly full. I am going to put a third super with frames and foundation on it today or tomorrow - I have one that is ready to go.  Putting it on today would mean bothering the bees again and I'm not sure I want to do that. 

I noticed a lot of brood cells both capped and uncapped and things look organized for the most part. I also noticed what looked to be a queen cup or supersedure cell. The last time I looked into this hive I physically saw the queen, could I have inadvertently squished her when I was doing my inspection?  She doesn't appear to be an underproducer - this hive is full of bees!   An entrance reducer was fitted into the entrance of this hive to reduce the chance that robbers and uninvited insects will have access to the hive. 

Package colony
These bees were much less aggressive with me this time than last time. Almost all the foundation is drawn out on the one medium super. I saw capped and uncapped larvae. I did not see the queen but I wasn’t looking for her either. I did not see any evidence of hive beetles this time, last time there was one on the inner cover. I installed my entrance reducer on this hive as well, I have to give my bees ample opportunity to thrive. The bees are feeding off the sugar water I put in a few days ago.  This hive is definitely not a strong as the nuc hive, but they seem to be holding their own.

Brushy Mountain confirmed today that they have received my order but said it won’t be able to process my order until the 18th.  I did a rotten job of planning - this order has my spur embedder, eyelets, eyelet punch and form board - all things I need to put together my next set of frames with foundation.  I had borrowed these tools from my mentor before and have since returned them because I thought I'd get my tools sooner.  I don't want to borrow again and wear out my welcome so soon, so I'm going to have to cross my fingers that the items get here before my package colony builds out the frames on the outer edge of their hive.