Leave or take off

[Schoon]

 I have only one hive the other left when beetles took over. This is the second year for the first hive and they swarm. By the time they recovered everything had bloom. I went in the hive about 3 weeks ago and there seem to be a lot of bees so I added a deep with wooden frames wax comb. I spray the comb with sugar water but today they haven't even started building comb. There is nothing blooming here now so should I leave it on or take it off? There is a med. super above it with honey I was going to leave it for them. Thanks.

[FRAMEshift]

You usually want to add the second hive body when the first one has 7 or 8 drawn frames. You can ask some local beeks about what the fall flow is like in your area.  If it's dearth all the way to winter and your bees don't have enough stores to make it through, you could feed them some sugar syrup.  If they have enough honey already, then just keep an eye on them to make sure they stay queenright and don't have mite or other disease problems.  You have been through one winter already... a pretty tough one... so you are probably in good shape. 

[AllenF]

Just how many and what boxes are you running on that box.  Is the med above a deep?  Honey flow is over.   You can not count on them making any more.  My bees now are burning through capped honey.  You will need to feed if they are light to get them through the winter.  Don't add anymore space for beetles to hide in.   Use your thumb and go beetle hunting several times over the next 2 weeks.