I've got 2 questions. The first is about reversing hive boxes. Experienced beekeepers in my area (central virginia) recommend reversing the hives, so that there is "space" for the brood to grow as the weather warms and the hive's activity picks up. It seems to me that this strategy assumes that the most of hive is has moved itself during the winter up into the upper box of the hive. I opened up my hive today and found that the majority of the bees is in the lower box, and that the upper still has 3-4 frames of honey. I checked the bottom of all of the frames in both the upper and lower boxes and it doesn't look like there are any queen cells developing.
I'm wondering if I should reverse the boxes, or simply make some more room in the upper box, by moving some of the frames of honey down into the lower box and some of the open frames up into upper box?
After opening up the hive I took a good look around and notice that there were a bunch (50-80) of dead bees in front of the hive. The hive is set on a stand off the ground and there don't appear to be any signs that an animal like a skunk has been trying to get into the hive. Is this something to worry about?
Thanks for your advice.