BB-QE-BB

[Etton]

I have a few hives with ... BB, QE & BB . Most with the bottom BB with brood only a little stores + pollen and in due course I would like them to start taking stores (honey) down from the top BB. I don’t want to nadir the top BB and thinking of putting a cover board on top of the QE with the open hole to see if they will take down. Worried that the Q will then have no room to lay. My aim is to get it to over winter one national BB. What do others do?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Extract the topmost deep, let them backfill the frames in the bottom deep with stores as the nest reduces.

 

[Ian123]

Depends how many bees are in the hive before you worry about condensing down. If I understand it right there both brood boxes so if so just juggle some frames about, you don’t need to wait for the bees to move it.