I inherited 2 hives, one which was a dead-out, died sometime in the winter. The last time the hives were serviced was early in the fall. It has 2 deeps and 1 medium honey super.
It was a classic case of starvation - I found the final cluster in the upper super, in one corner.

Parts of the honey super had honey (now crystalized in the comb). The next deep had a surprising amount of honey in the classic circular pattern, with empty comb in the middle:

A lot of the deep frames also had uncapped nectar and pollen+nectar, which is now fermented (smells like a bar!).
The bottom deep was predominately empty, with a few frames with some honey in the corners.
My questions:
1) If I put the honey super on an active hive, will the bees clean out the crystailzed honey and then fill it with "good" honey? Do I need to do any scratching of caps?
2) If I hive a new package and use the existing deep frames, what should I do about those with honey? Will the bees handle it if I give them frames like the one shown above? Again, should I scratch open any honey?
Do you have any advice for re-using this comb with the honey / fermented nectar?
Thanks - Steven
It was a classic case of starvation - I found the final cluster in the upper super, in one corner.

Parts of the honey super had honey (now crystalized in the comb). The next deep had a surprising amount of honey in the classic circular pattern, with empty comb in the middle:

A lot of the deep frames also had uncapped nectar and pollen+nectar, which is now fermented (smells like a bar!).
The bottom deep was predominately empty, with a few frames with some honey in the corners.
My questions:
1) If I put the honey super on an active hive, will the bees clean out the crystailzed honey and then fill it with "good" honey? Do I need to do any scratching of caps?
2) If I hive a new package and use the existing deep frames, what should I do about those with honey? Will the bees handle it if I give them frames like the one shown above? Again, should I scratch open any honey?
Do you have any advice for re-using this comb with the honey / fermented nectar?
Thanks - Steven