[beelieve]

When I hived my bees, I put them in a full size hive body and covered them with a small super. I now see this was a mistake, because my last check of the hive revealed that the bees are doing EXACTLY what they should be doing--but only in the small super, not in the large brood chamber which rests directly under it. Being afraid that they'd run out of room (and seem to prefer to move up, not down), I added a queen excluder and another small super on top. Still, I'm concerned that the bottom brood chamber--where the queen was initially set before release--is completely empty! Help! Any suggestions on why this is or what I should do? I've been scouring resources but haven't found the answer yet.

 

[brac]

I would remove the newly added super, and place the deep above the drawn super. They will then move up and draw out the deep.

 

[beedeetee]

Use only one box until they have that one about 80% filled and then add the next box on top of the one that they are in. It doesn't matter which one you use first. A package will go a couple of months in the first box. The first three weeks they will decrease in number as old bees die and the new bees that are being raised are not hatching yet.

After about a month from the time they new bees start hatching you will need to add a box. If you are hiving your package during your major honey flow, it is possible that this will happen much faster.

 

[CaughtbytheGirls]

I'm in cortland too. My second year with the girls and have had an amazing amount of honey from them. I would leave the medium on top of the full and wait for her to move down. My queen started this year in the top full then moved down into the bottom one later in the spring...yours may be just waiting to fill up before moving down. good luck