On Mon, 1 Sep 1997, Les H Vaughn wrote:
  One of the
> colonies with bought bees seemed to outgrow the single hive
> body rather quickly, started hanging out on the outside of
> the hive most of the time.  Once I saw that this was not an
> isolated occurrence, I quickly added another hive body.
  Now it is getting to
> the point that the entire front and sides of the 2 bodies are
> covered with bees at night, several inches thick in places.
 
Hi Les!
 
When I started beekeeping my first hives were packages installed on
foundation. Some of them drew 2 boxes of combs and produced some honey in
a third box. If your good hive has drawn all the combs and filled them
with honey, I would put on a third box. If they draw and fill the combs,
you could put them on the other, weaker hives for winter stores. If you
leave them crowded they will likely swarm, and the queen left in the hive
will be pushed for time to get bred before the winter.
 
We don't have Varroa mites in our operation yet, but those who have say
that a symptom is deformed bees. You should ask someone with first hand
experience about treatment.
 
Best regards,
 
Donald Aitken
11710-129 Street
Edmonton Alberta Canada
T5M 0Y7