Jerry,
I don't know all that much about Texas winters, but if the temps are above 60 and there is forage out there, you can bet the girls will be out looking for it! Are there things that bloom all winter down there like in Florida and California, or do you go through a shorter time of dearth like we have here in the northeast. Right now in Concord, MA the ground is white and the temp is 10F! Not much forrage out there right now!
I would not block up any holes, instead I would smoke them in both holes, wait 30 seconds or a minute and then smoke them again. Then they will be pretty well honey gorged and docile for you.
I would also be willing to bet that the outside wall gets pretty hot when the sun shines in the middle of the summer and therefore comb would not be able to stay attached without melting. So my bet is that most of the comb is attached to the inside cooler osb wall. Again, this is only my guess but I would think that metal must get pretty hot in the summer. If this is the case, then you shouldn't get too much tearing of the comb when you pull the wall in because it will mostly be attached to the osb and not the metal outer wall. I could be wrong about this, I was wrong once before. It was this time when I thought I had made a mistake but I actually haddn't. But seroiusly, figure out which wall this is and if it is a north wall it will naturally be cooler, facing away from the sun. But if is is a south wall, immagine how hot it gets in the middle of the summer, and then try to immagine comb stuck to the inside of that hot metal wall.
Let me know what you think about all this I'm curious now!! :lol: