My two hives were started in late May. I placed them on top of my shed roof to keep them away from bears. I planted a half acre of buckwheat to give them something to do and now I have tons of bees! The two hives are different in size. One was much bigger from the start even though they were created equally from packaged bees. I just added a third deep body to the big hive which has two shallow supers that are filling up with honey. The smaller colony has two deep and one shallow. Bees in both hives fill 80-90% of the frames with significant bearding on the outside. Now to my questions:
It is August 30 with LOTS of flowers out and seemingly honey flowing well. Am I making a mistake by adding the third deep to the big hive? They seemed crowded and were starting to raise brood in the lower of the two shallow supers. I don't want then to swarm out on me.
I have been told that I need to start medication now and have Fumagilin-B, Terramycin soluble powder and mite medicine. I was assuming that they would produce very little homey the first year but there seems to be quite a few frames in the bigger hive. Should I give them some more time and grab some honey before winter then medicate them or should the meds go on now. I will, of course feed them through the winter as well.
Sorry this is long but I felt you might want the context of my questions. I will have more when I get closer to winter... which in Vermont might be soon.
Doug