lengthy question sorry

[sds888]

I have a hive it refuses to draw out the outer frames but for the most part it has two full deeps. They have hundreds of bees bearding 24 hours a day seven days a week. I have not seen a decease in bee numbersWent out a couple of weeks ago to check on them we will call it

Week #1 Very little brood in either box tons of honey and a couple what looked like to this newbie drone cells.

Week #2 Very irrate bees more than I have ever seen. was only able to lift out a couple of frames. I did not see but a couple of brood cells in the bottom box very little in the top box. I really can not see the eggs due to 1 my eyes and the swarm of bees in my face.

I then feed for four days were they take down four gallons of 1:2 out of a top hive feeder.

Week #3 I go out and there is what seems to me more brood in the top box and a couple of cells that appear to me as drone cells at the very bottom of the frames. One almost looked like a queen cell but I dont think so but I am a newbie. The bottom box hardly if any brood at all.

So this is where I need to know if I made a mistake.
The solution I came up with. The bottom box was lite while the top box was very heavy. I placed the top box on the bottom and the bottom box on top. They also looked honey bound to me so I placed a queen excluder on and a medium super.

Have I messed up?

Thank you sorry for such a long question

[GRIMBEE]

OK My first year. You probably should not have switched boxes as the bottom is light because it is their brood chamber, food stores are kept up top mostly. It sounds like you need to add supers so they will have more space, esp if they are always bearding all the time.(lack of room in hive)
I would add a super and see what happens with the bearding. My 2 cents
How hot has it been down there? Some bearding is normal on hot days.

[sds888]

It has been very hot 100 plus. We have a bad storm comming up and they are really bearding more than they ever have.

[GRIMBEE]

The excessive bearding is because of the heat. If all 20 frames are drawn, then it is time to add supers. I currently have a hive that is 2 deeps and 2 mediums strong and they will swarm in about 3 weeks if I don't do something. I am splitting them

[WayneW]

It has been very hot 100 plus. We have a bad storm comming up and they are really bearding more than they ever have.

Thats pretty hot, and i'd bet the humidity is up there too.

How is ventilation?..... Have you tried proping up the top? Bearding is not unusual at all, some nights i can hardly see the front of my hive, others it's a handful on the porch.

Just a suggestion, this is my 1st year as well. :rolleyes:

[martyred_cars]

Also my first year, but thought I'd add what happened here -- We had the opposite, many weeks of chilly, rainy, overcast weather, so the bees were really cooped up. One hive was really going well, but they seem to have felt cooped up in their hive and finally swarmed. I was going by the 7/10 rule, but should have really put a couple supers on much sooner considering the weather. The thing was, they were also not drawing out the outer frames, don't know why. They were just wanting to go up. By the time they swarmed they had about 7/10 in both deeps. Now I'm moving empty frames more toward the middle here and there when I get a chance. Don't know if that's the right thing to do, just the thing I'm trying.

[GRIMBEE]

I prop the tops when it hits the 90's. My hives are also half shaded so I never see any crazy huge bearding, just a small beard on the landing boards every now and then. I think to keep the hives in full sun is a bad Idea. Do they naturally build in the full sun with no shade.