[Gbell1577]

Morning,
I put up 2 hives about a month ago and both have seem to be doing well. I put another brood box on both a few weeks ago and when I came to inspect, one hive hasn’t drawn up yet, seems to be really weak. They haven’t even drawn out the combs I put in when I took out the hive feeder


The second hive is VERY strong and they are up in the second brood box.

Should I just wait and give the weaker hive time to catch up?

 

[Oldtimer]

Unfortunately you give no information about the weak hive, so there is no way anyone can tell you why it is weak.

Things we would need to know is does it have a queen, is there unsealed brood, when was it last treated for varroa mites and if so how, does it have any food, has it been robbed, that kind of thing. A pic or two of the brood would also be helpful.

 

[Fivej]

As you see, two "identical" hives can progress very differently. Bees need food to make wax and more bees. I would put the feeder back on and when they are stronger and have drawn some comb in the upper box, remove a frame of brood from the bottom box and place it directly above. Slide the frames tight to close up where you removed the frame and add a frame on the outside of the box. This will make the nurse bees come up to cover the brood and will encourage more comb drawing.
Please put your location in your profile. So much of beekeeping is local and you will get better responses if members know where you are. J

 

[JWPalmer]

How close are the hives to each other? You may be getting some drifting that is benefiting the stronger hive. Balance things out a little by giving the weaker hive two frames of capped brood from the stronger hive and put the two undrawn frames back in the strong hive in the brood nest, but not next to each other. In another week or two, go back into the weaker hive and pull up two uncapped brood frames into the second box to drawn the bees up. They will take it from there.

Please edit your profile to include your location. If you are in the South, your flow is over or will be ending soon and you need to be feeding to get the comb drawn.

 

[BadBeeKeeper]

They haven’t even drawn out the combs I put in when I took out the hive feeder

If you had the feeder in the 1&2 or 9&10 positions in a 10 frame Lang, they might not be too quick to draw those frames out if that's where you put the new frames (assuming foundation).

I have sometimes had hives that are slow to draw comb in those positions. I have not yet determined any reasons for why this occurs (and maybe never will), I just know that it does.