[Andy Berg]

I installed a new package 5/4 in an 8 frame deep with foundation-less frames, and I've been giving them syrup since then. With a little pushing and pulling on my part, the combs are running pretty straight, and they are filling up with brood, pollen, and syrup. (I imagine there is also some nectar mixed in, but it all looks pretty clear to me.)

How full should I let the frames get before adding a second deep? Right now three are built out to the bottom, three more are close, and two have some comb but very little.

 

[perrywinkle]

A good rule of thumb is 70% to 80% drawn but i lean towards the 80% or more. Crowd them a little bit to get better comb results since its a new package. For a new beekeeper good drawn comb is a premium !!!

 

[Tigger19687]

I lucked out in the drawn straight comb on the foundationless frames.
1st year Beek here so....
I had 10 frame deep full comb except 1 frame, then put another deep 10 frame with 3 full combs drawn and checkerboarded (term ok here?) the foundationless in between.
They are doing good !

 

[AbqBee]

On an 8 frame deep, I would wait until they have 7 full frames of wax and see that they've at least started on the 8th frame. When adding boxes, I usually take a couple frames of brood and put them in the new box. Then, I interleave two empty frames with full frames in the bottom box. By putting brood comb in the new box, it forces the bees to adopt the new box quickly. Otherwise, they just pass right through it and take their time expanding.

Another thing I've found with packages and feeding sugar water is that sometimes they store up so much sugar water that they become bound up with stores and it limits their brood rearing space. If it looks like they've stored up a lot of sugar water, I would back off. You can always go back to feeding them sugar water later.