> Does it make a difference placing supers with foundations rather than 
> drawn comb?  How to manage that situation when only wax foundations are 
> available?

Drawn comb is better, but one super of foundation gives as much room as 
several boxes of drawn comb since the bees cluster in foundation and are 
spread out on comb.  Usually the beekeepers I know limit the amount of 
foundation in supers to three frames, but I have drawn entire supers of 
foundation routinely.  The secret is to have only one brood box besides the 
foundation.  A second brood box may turn into a honey barrier with smaller 
clusters or weaker flows, act like a lid, and stop progress.

Using a bait comb - either brood or a drawn comb - in the super of 
foundation can help, too, but unless there is a good flow or the bees are 
fed constantly, foundation may be ignored, or if wax, chewed up to be used 
elsewhere.

With foundation, the secret, other than limiting the brood comb below, is to 
limit the supers added at any time unless the weather is always above 95 
degrees F.  When making comb, if I lifted a lid, I always wanted to see bees 
on all top bars.  Not crowded, but there.

With extracted production, in early season, I did not want to see many bees 
up top or out to the walls once the weather was warm, in mid-June.  If I 
did, I added boxes.

After swarming had passed, in August, then more crowding was OK, and I 
wanted to see bees in all boxes and out to the walls. 

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