In a pollen rich area (and Aptos is very likely to be) as much as a third of the weight in the brood boxes is not honey but bee bread. The bees will never use it, so these frames must be pulled and fresh frames used to create room for brood.
> I have not looked into the bottom brood box, as the top one
> is too heavy for me alone to remove.
A two-deep brood chamber in a heavy pollen area should be checked as the bottom deep can be so pollen-choked that there may be virtually no brood space left.
Pollen-choked frames have to be replaced with either undrawn frames or empty brood comb frames staggered between the remaining frames in the brood nest. You can't use empty honey frames because that only invites the queen to lay lots of drones.
To reduce the weight of the top, set another box nearby and start removing frames from the outside in. If you don't have one then a plastic basin, strong cardboard box or even a clean wheelbarrow will do. Leave the brood frames in place because they are not heavy. Without the honey and pollen frames you should be able to lift the top and set it aside. Do not sit it on the ground, you want it to be open bottom.
Working from the outside again, pull the pollen packed and honey packed frames out of the bottom box. It is a judgment call on how many empty frames to introduce, but even in the worst cases of pollen/honey bound boxes I do not introduce new frames side-by-side and do not separate the two center frames. That limits the maximum number of replacements to four frames/box.
1-0 is frame position 1H 2N 3B 4N 5B 6B 7N 8B 9N 0H H=Honey N=New B=Brood
This is a worst case scenario. Separating the brood by new frames makes it harder to keep the nest at temperature so if you suspect the hive is not strong enough to cover 3B-8B only introduce new frames on one side. Go back in 10-14 days and decide if the other side needs doing yet. In 8-frame hives you are restricted to two new frames (1h 2b 3n 4b 5b 6n 7b 8h).
If the lower box has no brood in it, move the two outer frames of brood from the top box into 5B/6B (4b/5b) of the lower box. Should there be a broad band of honey across the top look for frames (not the center two) with a narrower band. If you have to use frames with broad bands you cannot rely on bees to empty the honey cells when there is nectar coming. Prick the caps to encourage them to relocate it but try not to be heavy handed as you do not want honey dripping down and over open brood cells.
Once the bottom is done you are ready to replace the top box and repeat the exercise of inserting new frames. If there are heavy clusters underneath scrape them on to a flat board and introduce them into the lower box. Waft some smoke across the open bottom to encourage the bees to climb higher so you can avoid squashing them when you put the box back on top.
A strong hive needs all the brood space you can give it. The bees are very willing to draw comb at this time but if there is no open brood space you should give the queen cells to lay in while the new comb is being drawn. If you have any drawn brood frames, place them in 4N/7N (3n/6n) of the bottom box.
Later in the year, when there is no brood in 2/9 (2/7) you can remove one of them and slide the center apart to introduce an undrawn frame between 5/6 (4/5). Queens like new comb, and it is good practice to recycle old brood comb out of the hive.
It is unusual to find queen cells this early, but if you find capped queen cells it is too late to prevent the hive swarming. You can simulate it by doing a split, just be sure you move the frame of brood with the queen on it to the new location along with some honey frames, pollen frames and undrawn frames. She will be short of foragers, and even though you include frames of honey and pollen frames, feed syrup to stimulate the house bees into drawing comb.
> ...they were a little pissy.
Try not to oversmoke and do this in the middle of the day when it is warmest and most of the foragers are out working. Be careful of the queen. To encourage her to hide between 5B/6B (4b/5b) do not smoke the center frames.
Replace the bee bread comb in the frames you have removed with fresh foundation, or if you are doing natural cell cut out all but a half inch of comb below the top bar. Since this is quick 'n easy, you can re-use these as N frames while you are re-configuring the boxes. The honey is yours to extract, keep in the freezer, or use as starters to encourage workers up into a third box used as a honey super.
Hopefully the steps make sense and this does not come across as too lengthy and didactic.