Also, yes, after we opened it up a little, most of the ladies on the outside seemed to make their way back to the inside. The weather here has been about 90 deg and Houston humid, so I’m thinking they were just hanging out catching a breeze before.
Let me just be crystal clear here, not to criticize you, but to make sure that I am giving accurate advice.
- You have a packed brood box
- You added a second brood box, and the comb is fully drawn, but not full of food or brood
- You have a super on top of 1. and 2.
If that is correct, I would remove the super until the second brood box looks like the first one. If you don’t, you are imposing a big risk of pests over-running the hive onto your bees. Your bees, your choice. Just that would be my management. 
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No criticism taken! I’m new at this.
Seems like solid advice, we’ll have another look this afternoon. Thanks!
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If you do, and you are able to take photos of the frame faces, we can give you much more accurate advice. 
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Fair enough, and tbh, I did have a bit of doubt if it was time yet or not. I was impressed how fast it was drawn out (the mind boggles at how fast they work!), but I wasn’t sure if there were enough bees yet.
I always try to get pictures, but sometimes I fumble that detail a bit.
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I agree with @Dawn_SD the clip only shows normal bee activity at the entrance. Sit back, relax and if something weird happens at the entrance it will stand out in a big way.
Cheers
ok Julie that pic makes me think that pic might have been taken after you disturbed the bees. If that is true then what you are seeing is a normal reaction. The more you get into the hive so you will have more bees outside.
What the pic shows can also indicate hot weather so some of the bees will hang about outside to reduce the heat building up inside the hive. It can also give you a warning that the bees need more room in the hive, if that is the problem you will see it more of a night when foraging bees are home for the night.
Hope that helps you with what you are seeing.
Cheers Peter
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They were disturbed during hive inspection. We do have hive beetles (traps installed, etc), so we’re taking a good look.
Tongue in cheek-but fairly true, if you have a bee hive you will also have SHB. Any of the traps will work to some extent but as a hive increases in bee numbers the bees will control SHB even better than a trap. During an inspection if you can catch the buggers just squash them.
When you are working around or in a hive make all your movements slow and smooth so to minimize the stress to the colony. Sounds stupid but I even tell myself out loud to relax and slow down.
Tip, I mix a cup of table salt and a cup of cleaning vinegar in 1 gallon of water, mix till the salt has dissolved, and with a watering can with a rose on it I drench under and around the hives for 3 feet out, this will kill weed growth and help with SHB as well, and of course, will do no harms to your bees. Cheers Julie, Peter
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Not true in parts of Europe, yet… 
No SHB on a few remote islands in Australia either Dawn, but as Julie says she is in Houston TX I would bet she has the little blighters there.
I did open with “Tongue in cheek-but fairly true, if you have a bee hive you will also have SHB.”
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Yep typical of you Eastern staters. 
Now the West is a remote island.
I guess we over here do see you guys as a remote island, even sometimes as another country.
I hope you never get SHB or cane toads over there.
Cheers mate
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Yep. In Houston, and I have ‘em. I set traps, squish the ones I can catch, and hung up a wasp trap that also seems to get some of them (along with flies, fruit flies, and wasps).
Salting the earth doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
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It certainly has worked for me. with a sub-tropical climate here it is hard to keep grass growth and SHB under control and anything that helps is worth the effort.
I have traps hung up around my apiary that seems to kill SHB as they fly into my apiary area as much as the internal hive traps do.
It seems I don’t have an issue with wasps by the number I find in the traps, but we do have the sugar cane toads that are very hard to kill - even with using a golf club with a full swing trying to send them into orbit. They just refuse to die… A lot bigger problem than mice and other nasties… They will sit at a hive entrance to feed on returning bees and are not effected by a few bee stings.
Cheers
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Yeah, hope not Peter, the rainbow lorikeets, corella and Kiwis are bad enough.
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I have a small (and getting larger) chameleon that lives somewhere in the pallet under the hive. I’ve seen him eating dead bees tossed from the hive a couple times, but I don’t think he’s a threat.
It’s the SHB that make me paranoid. That and mites. Trying not to overmanage the hive, but I feel like I need to watch closely.
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We have Western Fence Lizards all around our yard. They don’t eat dead bees, but they do eat sick bees. When Varroa infestation gets bad, our bees develop symptoms of DWV (deformed wing virus). They don’t just get deformed wings, but they also develop neurological problems which prevent them from flying. They get thrown out of the hive and wander around on the ground as “crawlers”. The lizards go after these poor bees. I don’t really mind, as I view it as the lizards are the cleanup crew, keeping the viral burden down in the environment. 
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A chameleon wouldn’t be quick enough to catch a healthy bee so I would see it as a friend tidying up around the hive for you.
My mentor 40 years ago reasoned that just removing the roof and watching the ‘goings on’ for a few minutes disrupted the colony and set them back about 4 hours. try to leave the colony to do their thing except for your regular inspections. I know it is very tempting but the bees are better off if you leave them to do what bees do!!!
@skeggley
By Kiwi do mean New Zealanders, from across the ditch.
An Australian joke that others might not understand.
Cheers
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