Splitting a single deep box into a medium.

[Qkrwogud]

I'm in New Zealand where we are at the tail end of spring.
Honey flow is in full effect(I think), I've got a nuc that went into a deep box two weeks ago.

With a single deep box with all frames drawn out, add a medium box with no excluder and wait a few weeks(months?) till it gets drawn and filled.
After confirming both boxes have a few frames of brood/eggs/honey/bees, could you perform a walk away split by simply separating the two boxes?
If both boxes have a combo of everything, I would think it does not matter which box the queen is in. I think ideally I'd like to keep her in the FD box?

Where are the flaws to my plan or am I way off the mark bound for failure? What other considerations or factors are there?

[GSF]

Welcome to Beemaster

It's usually best to move the queen to the new box/location. Suppresses the swarming instinct. However if you are at the tail end of your flow then they may not build any new comb.

[Qkrwogud]

Thanks for your response.
I believe honey flow has just started for me. Had a quick look at the hive and found that they had drawn several frames of the second deep box I placed 2 days ago.
I ended up putting a medium box ontop as well. Was planning to switch the second deep for a medium, but since they had already drawn frames I wasn't sure what to do anymore so I ended up just putting it on top.

Could there be any potential problems with how my setup is at the moment? 1 full deep, 1 deep with 2-3 drawn frames and an empty medium ontop.

[KeyLargoBees]

If they have only "started" on two frames in the 2nd Deep you might want to pull the medium off for now and give it another few weeks and see how they do drawing out the deep first....adding 2 boxes at once typically  isn't the best idea unless you arent going to be able to keep an eye on space for an extended period....you are just giving pests more places to hide and forcing more bees to stay home to guard/patrol the empty space in the hive that isn't being worked due to population limits.

[OldMech]

   Walk away splits can work, though they are not the most preferred method, at least to me.

  Your deep is drawn, and they are starting on the medium...  Make sure you have plenty of bees in that deep; Pay attention to the flow and how well they are drawing comb..  if they are not drawing very fast give them a jar/can/bucket of syrup over the inner cover hole. ONLY poke about three holes in that jar. The idea is to give them the resources to draw with if they are not getting enough through nature. Three holes means they will get the syrup, but that they wont get it so fast that they pack it away, rather, they will use it to rear brood and make new comb. Again, provided the flow is not heavy enough to get them going on their own...
   Walk away is the simple method...   If they have eggs/Larvae in both boxes, yes, put the mostly drawn out medium on a new bottom board. Move it a few paces away, cover it and walk away. Check in four or five days to see which one started queen cells.  insure they HAVE started queen cells and that they are charged cells with larvae in them. Knowing where the queen is will help, but isnt absolutely necessary.
   If all goes well, the queenless box will have three to six queen cells..  Cover them and leave them be for three weeks, then check to insure a new queen has emerged.. typically you will find one or two cells with perfect round openings, and the rest will be torn open from the side. Close up for another week and then check for new eggs....
   Sometimes, they fail to start cells for one reason or another, in which case, finding no queen cells after about five or six days you will need to swap a frame of eggs/larvae from the queen right box into the queenless box. Usually they dont make the same mistake twice.
   Adding a purchased queen is faster and more dependable. Shes already mated and wont be eaten by a bird, or try to enter the wrong hive etc... when returning from mating flights. A new queen will be laying within a few days as opposed to a month for a queen they start themselves.
   Hope that helps!