Here are some shots from when Grace & I transferred the frames from the nuc to our hive.
In this photo, you can see we've put in a feeder tray (far right). the bees climb down the opening in the tray to drink the sugar syrup. This helps stimulate brood rearing, especially in the spring when resources (flowers) are not yet plentiful. The little orange thing in the on top of the frames in the left corner that looks like a sponge is a pollen patty. The bees can eat that as well as a protein source in the absence of other pollen sources.
This is a look inside the nuc as we were transferring frames. It's really a mini hive, and the bees were already working away building comb, storing honey and raising brood. The hope is this head start, plus the leftover resources from my hive last year are enough to jump start the colony and give them a strong foundation for the year ahead.
The ladies working on building out comb and packing it with honey. In the upper right, you can see a lot of honey that's "in process". Once they get it to the right moisture content - somewhere around 17% - they add the airtight wax cap so it stays at just the right consistency. My understanding is the bees cap honey in groups of cells whereas brood cells are capped individually. That's why capped honey can appear dimpled whereas capped brood looks to be more raised.
