I am still seeing some larva. Not seeing a lot of pollen. I’m not sure how to check colony size?
Will you have a video on varoa mite treatment? I’m looking forward to the videos from your fall class

What is your colony size? Do they have lots of pollen stored or are they short pollen? If you are still feeding, I would think they would be drawing wax on those frames if they have extra nectar. It isn’t abnormal, but would be good to get them working on them. Are the frames next to them full of honey or brood?

I didn’t notice back fill but I wasn’t looking for it either. I did notice empty cells so maybe that’s what they are starting to do. There are probably 3 frames that don’t have cells at all built up.

I have two hives. One hive the bottom brood box is close to 90%. Top brood box is probably 60%. The second hive bottom brood box is probably full and the top brood box is probably about 90% full.
I am still feeding them.

We shoot for 2 full brood boxes going into winter. If you remember, our bees went into boxes this spring with drawn comb so they will be ahead of colonies on new frames because they didn’t have to make as much wax. How close to full are they at this point? When did you stop feeding them or are you still feeding them? If you are feeding, how much are they taking? They should be pretty close to full by now, it isn’t unusual to not need a honey super on a first year hive. We have had an unusual year, it has been very dry so in some areas bees barely had enough to sustain themselves, in other areas near irrigated plants bees did better than usual.