This is my first week inspection after installing the nuc. Is that just brood or queen cells at bottom left? And is there anything to worry about if so
Nothing to worry about. It looks like sealed drone brood.
If you have a few spare minutes, google queen cells, then click on images.
Drone cells, to be expected in spring.
Cheers
Rob.
Thanks i was just confused by those bottom corner ones since they seemed much larger and protruding out
I confirm what the others have said, there is drone cells there and definitely not queen cells. When you see a queen cell it will hit you like a freight train as to what it is. A queen cell always has a downward tilt to it.
Cheers
Hi Vince, being able to distinguish between worker brood & drone brood is pretty important when doing brood inspections.
Generally speaking, it’s no good looking at a frame covered in drone brood & then determining that all is well within the brood box. That could be a mistake some new beekeepers make.
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that is actually a nice looking frame of brood- the large area of capped worker brood is exactly what you want to see. A small patch of drone brood to the side is also an indication that the hive is doing well enough to put resources towards making drones. Sometimes drone brood can look a bit ugly- compared to the rest of a frame it can look a bit unsymmetrical, puffy, not quite right. But it is right and normal.
Often in spring you will see more of this- and frames can start looking almost diseased. If the hive is very full of bees they will start making drones on the tops and bottoms of the frame bars as well. A month or two later and the drone brood disappears and the frame has a much more even regular appearance.
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@Vince_Fillah Dee has posted a photo of 3 typical queen cells, the rest is worker cells that are capped, a totally different shape and size, like chalk and cheese. So now you have seen drone cells, worker cells and queen cells, all the bases are covered. A good photo to Dawn, thanks.
Regards