Lesson 34: Reading a Frame

Eggs, larvae, capped brood and the brood pattern

When you lift a frame out of the brood box, you're looking at a report card for your colony. In a few seconds you can learn whether the queen is laying well, whether the colony has food, and whether something might be wrong. This lesson teaches you what to look for, in the order experienced beekeepers look at it: the whole frame first, then the pattern, then up close.

Step 1: Look at the whole frame

Look at the frame as a whole before you look at single cells. In a healthy brood frame the bees use the comb in a regular way:

• The middle is the brood area. Cells full of eggs, larvae and capped pupae are usually found in the central part of the comb.
• A narrow band of pollen borders the brood. It sits right next to the brood because pollen is protein food for the growing larvae. Bees pack a cell only about three-quarters full of pollen, and sometimes add a little honey to preserve it, which makes it look wet.
• Honey is on the outer edges. The edges of the comb beyond the pollen band are used for ripening and storing honey.

Across the whole box you'll see the same idea on a bigger scale: brood toward the center frames and food toward the outside frames. When you put frames back after an inspection, keep them in that order.

How it looks: A slice of the brood nest: capped brood across the middle, honey stored above it.

Pollen packed into cells (the colors come from different flowers), next to capped brood.

Step 2: Look at the pattern

Now look at how the brood is laid out. A good queen lays eggs in a solid pattern, with few skipped cells, so brood of the same age sits together and the comb looks "solid" with brood. Healthy capped worker brood normally looks like a solid sheet of cells with only a few uncapped cells, and those may hold eggs, uncapped larvae, nectar or pollen.

Spotty brood looks different. Cells of different ages are mixed together, with many empty or scattered cells. Spotty brood is a warning sign, not a diagnosis. It can come from:

• a failing queen, who lays eggs in a haphazard way (a failing queen may also lay drone brood mixed in with worker brood)
• queenlessness
• varroa mites
• inbreeding
• brood diseases such as American foulbrood or European foulbrood

If you see spotty brood, check for disease and other problems, and requeen if needed. Later lessons cover each cause: a good queen (42), the queenless colony (43), varroa (54) and the foulbroods (58–59).

How it looks: HEALTHY: a solid sheet of capped worker brood.

PROBLEM: spotty, scattered brood (this frame has American foulbrood; see lesson 58).

Step 3: Look up close

Now look closely at the cells for each stage of brood.

• Eggs look like small grains of rice standing up in the center of the cell.
• Larvae are pearly white with a glistening look, curled in a "C" shape on the bottom of the cell. They keep growing until they fill the cell.
• Capped brood is covered with wax cappings that are tan to medium brown, domed (convex), and without holes.

Finding eggs and young larvae tells you a queen has been laying. Being able to recognize healthy brood at every stage is also what lets you spot sick brood later.

How it looks: Eggs (small white rods standing in the cells) beside young, pearly-white larvae.

What to remember

• Whole frame first: brood in the middle, a band of pollen, honey on the edges.
• Then the pattern: solid is healthy; spotty is a warning sign to investigate.
• Then up close: eggs like standing grains of rice; pearly-white C-shaped larvae; tan-to-brown, domed cappings with no holes.

Quick check

1. Where on a healthy brood frame do you usually find pollen?
2. Name three things that can cause spotty brood.
3. What do healthy larvae look like?

Adapted from: UGA Bee Program, Non-infectious Diseases and Pests: Spotty Brood; Delaplane, K. S., Honey Bees and Beekeeping (UGA Extension Bulletin 1045, rev. 2017); Penn State Extension, A Quick Reference Guide to Honey Bee Parasites, Pests, Predators, and Diseases; Purdue Extension, Learning About Beekeeping (4-H-1057-W); NC State Extension, How to Install a Package of Honey Bees; UF/IFAS, Welcome to the Apiary! (4H446).

Photos: brood nest and capped brood, Einebillion, CC BY 4.0 · pollen in comb, Waugsberg, CC BY-SA 3.0 · eggs and larvae, Waugsberg, CC BY-SA 3.0 · spotty AFB frame, Tanarus, CC BY-SA 3.0 (all via Wikimedia Commons; cropped).

Adapted from university Extension sources. Experienced Georgia beekeepers are reviewing these lessons. See something that doesn't match your experience? Tell us.