Day 23: Newborns and Capped Honey

A honey bee develops from egg to newly emerged adult in approximately 21 days (Range: 18-22days) for a worker bee or 24 days (drones) or 16 days (queen bee). So if I released the queens 21 days ago, there could be newly emerged workers today. I was surprised to see bees in the hive today that looked smaller and lighter colored than the rest. They have more fuzz between where their eyes are and where their wings attach. They hold their wings in towards the center of their bodies. Their abdomens are lighter colored and smaller, not as shiny and the stripes are not nearly as defined. (You can see one of these in the photo, near the top center.)
I also saw capped honey in a few of the frames. I moved a few of the frames with pollen, nectar and honey only (no brood) out to the outside of the brood box. This is supposed to encourage them to draw out the empty frames in between. I hope next week to add the second set of deep frames to each hive! Flashmob still has 4 empty frames and The Others still has 5 1/2 empty frames.