Back in town after three weeks; hive check report

Back home, cloudy day with showers, mid-60’s. Opened hive this morning after being away 3 weeks to check progress, mainly to see if bees have adequate space remaining.  They do—pictures show some progress on B12 (misnumbered as B13 in photo) but bees are not getting close to the end of the hive at B18. The weather has been mostly cool while I was away so putting the bottom board and entrance plugs back in place was a good move. (Jody determined that part of her hive’s problem was “chilled brood” where bees were unable to keep brood warm enough because of too much ventilation.) B12 no longer has nectar as it did on June 25.

B11 has the interesting smaller comb in the center as on June 25 and no longer has the nectar/honey in the cells; see picture below. Did the bees eat it or move it? I moved B10&B11 as a set since they appeared to be crossed combed at the previous inspection…not ready to have it break apart again—will see it when honey is harvested, although we probably will not ever harvest combs that far back.

B10, right, had only honey cells, no brood...picture below

There is no brood on B9.5, open nectar and capped honey cells only—see picture of left side here. This comb has the center top hole through which bees move.

B8 has no brood now, only nectar and honey cells—see B8 left side  below.

Did not inspect beyond B8 left side, although I am curious how many bars back the brood has gone. There were no bees bringing pollen into the hive today, which indicates that they are not actively raising brood. I’m thinking they are now concentrating on building honey surplus, reducing brood and filling former brood cells with nectar. That might explain the now empty nectar cells on B12 and 11…and is what we were told would happen during the summer as they prepare for winter.

Didn’t see or even look for the ‘wannabe’ queen cells; quiet buzzing and no indication of swarm activity. Bees are still quite amenable, not at all upset by my moving combs back and forth while peering into the depths of their hive to see their work….nice. No need for net, gloves, or even water spray today. So I'll watch from the outside for the next several weeks and check during the latter part of August to determine if it is honey harvesting time.