the very young nurses bees don't sting. the eyes are bigger in proportion to the rest of the body because the body hasn't filled out yet. as the body enlarges, the eyes remain the same so they appear smaller. i think it takes about 3 to 5 days before the newly emerged bees can sting. next time you inspect your boxes, take out a frame of emerging brood and watch as the bees emerge then you will notice what they look like. get one of them in your hand and you will see how soft they are and how they can't sting you. it's always been a great pleasure to me to watch the bees emerging and observe their behavior.if, however i accidentally drop a frame, i have to pick up all the young bees as they can't fly back to the box and will end up as food for the ants.
When you "Make sure there are plenty of nurse bees" you don't look at the bees. You look at the comb you shake them off of. If you shake them off of open brood then most of them will be nurse bees.But the descriptions are accurate.[/quoteAh ha..got it!