I was finishing up getting the hives ready for winter yesterday and I have 1 hive that has me puzzled. This hive has 2 deeps on it but only has about 3 frames capped in the upper deep. The bottom deep is full. There are plenty of bees - I'm thinking too many bees for just one deep box. I'm not sure what to do about the extra bees if I decide to consolidate this hive down to 1 deep for the winter. The 3 capped frames with stores I guess I could freeze or give to other hives that might need them.
Should I just leave the second deep on top even though it's not full and I doubt the bees will fill it this fall or should I try to get all the bees I can in the bottom deep for the winter...?
Will bees from other hives except extra bees if I were to just move the 3 capped frames and the bees working on them to another hive or two....? Thanks