Theda Jeanell Davis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>Hi.  I am a new beekeeper with 1 Hive of bees that are flourishing.  The
hive has 2 Brood chambers that are just about filled with brood and
honey.  Last week I put a shallow super on for honey.  The bees were
purchaced in April and are All American variety from a dealer in Texas.
Now for my questions.......<<
Welcome to beekeeping!  You purchased some good bees from a very reputable
package producer.  I hope this all works out for you.
 
>>1.  I have recently noticed bees that have a white or light yellow patch
of hair?? on the top of their bodies.  Appears to be less than 1-2 % of
the bees have this appearance.  Is this natural or does it indicate a
problem?<<
This is most likely pollen caught in the hairs on the backs of the forager
bees.  Since you say that you can see it, I'm assuming that you're watching
from outside the hive.  If  that's the case, you're seeing pollen.  Right 
now in my part of Texas, the horsemint is blooming like crazy.  My bees are
coming in coated with horsemint pollen.  I don't know where you are but
feel free to tell us.
 
>>2.  I just inspected the top brood box.  Found plenty of brood and
honey.  I noticed quite a few areas where the comb is not flat with the
face of the frames.  Rather, there are sections of comb where the cells
are parallel with the face of the frame. What are these?  Are they drone
cells?  Is this a problem?<<
This is probably burr or brace comb that the bees have built.  Reading
further I realized that you spaced your frames with only 9 frames in a
brood chamber.  This was ill advised in my opinion, especially if they were
drawing out comb.  I would only space combs with 9 frames after they were 
fully drawn out.  Otherwise you're encouraging them to build burr comb.  
The way to fix this is remove the burr comb and add the tenth frame until 
it is all fully drawn.  I have not seen a benefit to spacing 9 frames in a
brood chamber.  I have seen an advantage to spacing 9 frames in honey
supers.  It discourages the queen from moving up and the bees will cap off
the honey very high so that uncapping is a breeze.
 
>>3.  And finally, I followed some of the discussion threads and read some
books about the pros and cons with using 10 versus 9 frames in the brood
chambers.  I jumped out there and decided to try 9 in order to enhance
ventilation ( live in Texas and it gets quite warm ).  What should I
monitor to see if this causes a problem or is better for the bees?<<
For ventilation I recommend that you use telescoping covers with an inner 
cover.  Don't put the telescoping cover all the way over the inner cover.  
Instead, place the front lip of the telescoping cover on the front edge of
the inner cover.  This provides a way for hot air to rise out of the hive,
turns the outer cover into a shade board of sorts and gives the bees room 
to hang out when they want to be out of the hive to keep heat down.  You
place the front lip flush with the front of the hive so that rain runs off
to the back of the hive, not the landing board where it can flood the
bottom board and cause a moisture problem in the hive.
Another thing I have experimented with this year is cutting a 1" hole in an
end of the top honey super, right below the hand-hold.  I've done this and
I always see bees fanning for all they are worth at this hole, moving hot 
air out of the hive and curing honey.  BTW, the hives that have this hole 
have consistently capped off more honey than hives that don't have this
hole.  
 
Ted Wout
Red Oak, TX