I bought a nuc earlier this summer and they have now filled the first brood box to where it is 90% full. I want to add another brood box on top. My question is this: Should I fill the new brood box with empty frames for the bees to fill, or put in one or two, have them fill those, and add more as needed? I also thought of putting in 5 frames and allowing the bees to fill those before adding more. Any advice would be welcome.
It is a bit late in the season for them to do much with another box, but you could try it and see. You can always take it off in the first week of September if they haven’t done much.
Always fill a new box with the full number of frames. If you leave any big gaps, bees tend to get creative, and that is not a good thing. It can be very messy with crazy comb in places that you don’t want it, and you damage the comb when you try to correct things. 
2 Likes
Thanks for the advice!
1 Like