[longtom]

This is my first year with a hive coming out of winter. I had two deeps and one medium ( I added the medium of honey to get them up to winter weight, both deeps had honey but not full). I have not done a full inspection yet, this is the first week we finally reached 50+. The bees are in the top box and I don't know if they are in the middle and bottom box until I check. I would like to know how to get them back into just the deeps? I assume there is brood in the medium(top box). I think I read somewhere that Michael Palmer uses this configuration for winter. If, there is no brood in the bottom box, would I rotate that to the top? If there is no brood in the middle box, what do I do? I expect some brood in the middle box, there seems to be a good number of bees. I was hoping to have a plan before I do my first full inspection. Thanks for your insight. Tom

 

[Wolfer]

Some people rotate. I don't. The bees want the brood just below the honey. As honey starts coming in it will push the bees back down. By fall brood should be in the bottom box with honey above them.

 

[longtom]

Some people rotate. I don't. The bees want the brood just below the honey. As honey starts coming in it will push the bees back down. By fall brood should be in the bottom box with honey above them.

Thanks Wolfer, I haven't been using a queen excluder, will I need one to keep them from building up?

 

[Wolfer]

I don't use an excluder as a general rule. Once there's a good honey band on top of the broodnest the queen is reluctant to cross it. First honey in they will store in the two bottom boxes.
Once there's a honey band above the brood nest I'll put on a super.
Other peoples experiences may/will vary but I've never had any issues getting the bees back down.