To New bee keepers.

[don2]

How to tell what is in a capped cell.  Queen cells will be large and look like a peanut. Brood cells have a cap the color of the old brown paper bag. flat looking. fresh capped honey has white caps. aged, traveled on honey cells will be flat and mostly clear, you will be able to tell what color the honey is most times. Just thought I'd pass this on. d2

[mtnb]

And so, on the brood frames, they'll build a mixture of cells on one frame to accommodate the larva? Is that right? And then once they feel like they have enough brood, they'll start building up the honey store? Am I getting that right?

[don2]

They will have honey and pollen stores around the outer edge of the brood.
Yes, when the Queen starts her wind down soon after the Summer equinox they will "back fill"  what was once the brood cells.
But one should not depend on the bees to fill the entire brood space with honey for the winter.  hope this helps. d2

The bees build up honey stores as the season progresses, during good honey/nectar flow they will bring in more than they need at the time. This is when we get some of the extra for our work. d2

[Candiebears]

Don... I have some capped cells in the center of the frame and they're a pale yellowish. Is it safe to assume this is brood? I did see eggs all along the outside cells.

[don2]

Most likely it is brood, or it could be pollen. Seems like the Queen most times starts laying in the center of the frame. Pale yellow or light paper bag brown could be brood.

Between these capped cells and the eggs on the outer edge did you notice the cells in between? You should have noticed larvae. d2

[Candiebears]

Most likely it is brood, or it could be pollen. Seems like the Queen most times starts laying in the center of the frame. Pale yellow or light paper bag brown could be brood.

Between these capped cells and the eggs on the outer edge did you notice the cells in between? You should have noticed larvae. d2

I didn't look for larvae. Just wanted to make sure she was laying, so I was in an out!

[mikecva]

Many years age one of our mentors was describing the brood cells as burnt biscuits. He would say that the newly capped brood sells were slightly domed like a biscuit but with the other bees walking around (with their dirty feet) the cells that would emerge soon looked like burnt biscuits. I think that is one of the best descriptions I have heard.  -Mike

[don2]

looks nothing like mine. Honey cells are dome at the beginning. Drone cells are dome through out. All the fresh worker cells I have seen may be a little dome'ish if noticed closely, but not pronounced. d2

Generally speaking, if you look at a brood frame you can see what different cells look like. The brood is most always in the center, then on the outer edge you will have the honey and pollen cells. Outer edge is where you find drone cells most times. One exception  for the honey cells, A frame of honey may have a cell of pollen now and then, otherwise the fresh capped honey will have white caps. this wax is considered the top grade of all wax. d2