I have been considering converting to medium hive bodies and wanted to do it while I only have a few hives. I was wondering what is done with the brood and pollen/honey that is stored in the deep frames. What is the best way to transfer the colony without placing unnecessary stress on them? thanks for any replies
Separate them from the queen with an excluder, then after the brood hatches you can extract the honey or replace the excluder with an inner cover that has a hole in it, and they they will carry the honey down into the nest. Then you can do whatever you want with the clean empty comb - you could band saw the frames and comb off to fit your mediums, and it would probably be fine even without a bottom bar. Obviously you can't do this in the dead of winter.
Thanks for the information, and i didnt have the intentions of doing this until spring. Just trying to do some preplanning as I build hive bodies.