I know this is probably a little early to be prepping for winter - since the temps are in the 90s, but I have a situation with one of my hives that I need some advice on. I split a hive earlier this year (May 1) using queen cells. Had a LOT of trouble with queens this summer in all of my hives. Ended up purchasing 2 queens for 2 of my 4 hives in June and July. In mid-June, I finally had a new queen emerge in the split, and she began laying in earnest by July 4. I added a second deep to this hive on July 8, but may have been a little early since the bottom deep had only about 6 frames built out.
Fast forward to today. Inspection revealed a ton of capped brood, with some nectar being stored in the bottom deep. I estimate only 7 frames are built out in the bottom deep, and little to no wax being built in the top deep. I will see a large bee population increase in a week or so, and, as such, I'm expecting more wax to be built out at that time. The goldenrod flow should start soon in my area of mid-south Illinois, so I'm thinking there should be enough time to build comb and gather adequate stores for winter. Wishful thinking perhaps.
I'm thinking I may need to start feeding 2:1 soon to give them the boost they need to be in the right position when things start to get serious around here. My other 3 hives are very strong, and currently still have supers on (which I plan to pull in the next week or so), so I'm concerned that if I try to combine with another hive, I'll just create an overcrowding condition. What would you guys think I need to be doing here? Thanks for your feedback.
