Back in the bee business this year, yah! And things were going great. Might still bee with this hive, but it's an odd one.
This is a local swarm from an apparently decades old established set of hives that have never been treated (take that with a grain of salt, though). It came with a deep box and bees already building comb on foundation. A week ago, 8 frames were fully drawn out, 9th frame was starting to be drawn. 10th frame was foundationless. I added a medium box with foundationless frames, as well as a screened bottom board.
When I changed out the bottom board, I put in a traditional entrance reducer. As I watched the bees, it seemed like they couldn't get in or out. It was weird. So I removed it (measured it later and it seemed fine). We are still in a heavy flow so robbing hasn't been a problem, though I am feeding both my hives.
This week, there is no additional comb that has been built. There is capped honey, tons of tight brood, and lots of eggs and larvae. It is a thing of beauty. Except it seems really crowded to me.
Am I worrying for nothing? I added a frame of drawn comb from another hive to the medium box, just to get the bees used to it. Foundationless is the one thing that has always worked well for me (big sigh). It's so easy, just glue in some popsickle sticks. I don't even spray them anymore.