Hive Peek

Today I had to go into the hive and retrieve the bee box all of the bees came in. So while I was in there I took a peek at how things were progressing. It has been 6 days since they have been in the hive and they are building up quite the comb!

Under that cluster of bees is where they have built their comb. Amazing how it is in a hexagonal shape.

Close up of the bees before I started pulling out the bars of comb.

Here you can just see the pure white comb under all of those bees. The top half of the photo has cells with honey in them :)

This was third from the center and not the largest piece of comb. They are doing very well.

Here is a look inside the hive without three of the top bars (which were on the bar holder). Amazing how bees will build naturally when they are not in a structured frame.

I got the bee box out and let the stragglers that were still inside find their way to the hive.

OBSERVATIONS:
Today was sunny and 60 degrees at 10:30am when I entered the hive. I did not use any smoke and did not move them any more than I had to to get the bee box out of the hive.
They had built their comb on the top bars we set in the hive. Since we don't have frames they are not restricted on the size or shape of comb they can build. The largest piece of comb was over 6 inches deep and 8 inches wide. The comb was pure white in color. The parts of the comb closest to the bar was full of honey. I did not notice any brood, yet. There were about 100 dead bees in the bottom of the hive. I assume they were from the transport and establishment. Otherwise the bees look healthy and are very active and not aggressive.