Check-In before my Trip

So I felt the need to peek in the hive just in case I don't have time this week.  I needed to make sure they hadn't gone over board drawing things out.  I knew they were busy and since they only have 8 of the 10 frames keeping an eye on how quickly they fill it in will be important.  The smaller hive I'm going to call Itsy because I just feel like it needs a name and lefty and righty just didn't sound right.  Anyway, Itsy is drawing foundation fairly slowly but still coming along.

It's nice white wax, and they're following the pattern for the most part the second shot is "small cell foundation" that they are drawing out.  So I feel like they're making good progress but probably won't need another deep super for a few weeks.  I could be wrong and they could really get it done sooner but I'm thinking it's going to be a while.  They are also sucking down the sugar syrup something I'll probably need to refill this weekend as they've already taken in about 1/2 a gallon which I expected for it being a new hive.

I did find something odd in Itsy, it looks like a larva they pulled early:

I was trying to see if it had a mite on it which would mean I have hygienic bee's, but my glove fingers couldn't get it picked up and one of the workers ran off with it.  So either it was a mite and the bee's wanted to prevent infection or this frame got a bit too chilly and the larva died so the bee's yanked it.  I couldn't say at the moment.

I will stay out of the hive till Saturday which will leave me wondering what caused that larva to get pulled but there isn't much I can do about it and I think the bee's know whats going on a lot better than I do.

Now for the other hive, I'm still working on a name for it but haven't come up with one.  Anywho hive two its completely foundation less and is going nice and strong.  Below are shots of all the frames they've started working on.

It's so cool to watch them make ladders to build the new combs.  They have comb on 7 of the 8 frames available to them so I have a feeling this weekend they will need to have another hive body added to them.  One thing that threw me on this hive is they've barely touched the sugar syrup they've drank about 2 inches of the syrup so  I debated on pulling it.  If they aren't using it, it means they've got enough foragers to keep the hive stocked with nectar and pollen.  After mulling it over a bit, I felt it would be best to leave it.  If any of the nectar drops off I want to make sure they've got food as they are drawing a lot of wax and will be most of the season.

That pretty well wraps up today's update, hopefully everything keeps speeding along while I'm tied up this week.  The good thing about the busy week is I won't have time to be tempted to peek in on the ladies.  Saturday will most likely be my next update, unless I have time to put together a general terms post as I had a few questions this morning that made me realize not everyone reading are familiar with bee keeping terms.