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.......
 
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?
 
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?
 
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?
 
Any help would be appreciated.........