My hive is a medium with frames, deep with frames, excluder, flow, feeder.
Bees are thriving in the deep, not building in the bottom medium.
Should I remove some or all of the frames in the bottom medium box to prevent them building comb in this area, encourage them to move into the flow?
Thanks,
Kurt
Kurt, it is always good to know where you are in the world to better answer questions of this nature, but generally beekeepers usually recommend putting on another box when the current box is at 80%. Typically you do not want the queen to have too much open space as it actually slows her down for some reason. Personally, I want my bees to have a good brood population in one/two boxes. Then I want them to have at least one honey super to be able to have sufficient to winter over. Only when they are set will I put on my Flow frames and hope for a harvest for myself. Hope this helps.
What is your intention Kurt with regards to a single or double brood box? But saying that, you do have options: if you want to encourage your bees into the Flow then remove the medium and over super it on top of the Flow box (meaning you are running a single brood, then Flow then Medium). make sure there is no brood in this medium box is they will perish. If there is brood in the medium, then the it would be wise to make the deep the bottom box, then the medium. Wait till they are both built up with bees and drawn comb then add the Flow super. Hope that makes sense.