Ok, I installed two packages into hives back in May. The deeps are nor exploding full of brood, so I added a second deep to each. HOWEVER, when I inspected the first deeps, the bees seemed to form huge knots on the frames I removed, so that they would not fit back into the hive without rolling bees. I made the openings as large as possible for the last frames, but I ended up killing a lot of bees (saw the cleaners carrying body after body out of the hive the next morning, and there was a pile).
When I did my first couple inspections, and there were empty frames, replacing the last frame was easy. How do you do it with a large population without killing a lot of bees? Any time I've tried to "shake" bees off anything (inner cover, frames, etc) swinging the object down 12" and stopping abruptly just angry them off and had me dodging to avoid angry bees...they certainly didn't just plop into the hive and crawl inside. I'd be super hesitant to try to do this with a frame full of bees, considering the picture I just posted about my reaction to my most recent sting.
Thoughts? Advice?
Thanks!