Hive Check

Hive2 is in a sorry state. There is lots of bees but mostly empty frames except for ~2-3 frames of brood.
Layer 2 (medium) is mostly still empty frames with a bit of comb here or there.
Layer 1 (deep) no honey or nectar some brood.

I swapped out the last 2 mediums frames in the deep.  Putting in 2 empty frames and moving the medium into layer 2. I carefully broke the "extra" ~3 inches of comb from the bottom of these two frames and fitted each "burr" comb into an empty frame and put them in layer 2 also.
Must take action and feed this hive up.

Hive1 looks much as I left it in late July.
Layer 5 - honey FULL - 8 frames
Layer 4 - mostly empty, some comb built out and a little honey stored on 1/2 a frame.
Layer 3 - honey FULL - 4 very full and 3 still effectively empty.
By the point the bees got aggressive and I called it quits. I assume they are doing well judging by the bearding I see on most nights.
Layer 1 and 2 - brood?
The hive often looks very active in the cooler morning hours.

Hive check

Not much change in 2 weeks did get down into the brood boxes for hive1. Both hives are health and happy, with lots of brood frames.

Hive check and boxes added

Went in to check the honey supers in Hive1 as it looked pretty full last Saturday. I rearranged and added a super.
Layers 1 and 2; brood boxes, didn't disturb.
Layer 3, had 8 frames, 4 VERY full of capped honey and 4 just starting to get built out.  Removed 4 mostly empty frames and replaced with 3 new frames (checker boarded) with foundation. This layer now has a little more space with ONLY 7 frames.
Layer 4 (added) medium super with 4 frames slightly built with some honey from layer 3 and 4 new frames with foundation.
Layer 5 still full of honey and damn heavy.

Since I was out and geared up I checked on Hive2, which had had a bunch of bees doing orientation flights early in the afternoon.  The hive is looking fabulous full of brood and honey, except for each frames at the very edges. These are starting to get some cells built.  I added a medium super as Layer 2 checker boarded with the 4 frames unbuilt and 4 frames slightly with some wax cells built from last season.

Bearding

It's getting warmer at night so the bees of Hive1 are bearding out of the entrance to cool off.

quick check

Hive1, Bees super mellow, plus not so many bees, although I didn't check the brood chamber boxes. Box 4 (super heavy) full of "honey"
Box 3, the 4 frames with wax cells are now PACKED with nectar/honey. The 4 frames that started out as foundation are now starting to get some wax cells built out and where they are built out they're filled with nectar. YAY the mellow summer and continued blooming will be good for our fall honey harvest.

Hive2 is looking good lots of brood and building of comb from the medium frames.
the 2 frames at the east side were still foundation. I moved one to the other side of the hive to center the rest of the frames that contain brood and nectar and pollen.  1 frame of brood looks like it just hatched and will be ready for the queen. Maybe I saw eggs, certainly in several places I found stage 1 and 3 larvae.

quick check

Hive2 Refed and checked. 4 and a bit sides of brood, a bunch of bees, nectar (sugar soln I assume) and pollen. Looking good. Killed 1 SHB, bees were chasing it, wrapping their legs around it and popping it off the frame. Pretty cool to watch actually.
Hive1 Checked honey supers. Box 4 full (probably mostly sugar soln), Box3 (new last week), each frame that had partial comb built out is now full of nectar! and they are busy building out more comb and filling it. Still seems to be a chill hive.

Hive inspection

Hive2 Same as last week, looking good, baby brood and the queen seen. Overall ~2.5 frames with brood, but mostly on the mediums. Hive1 Box3 ~80+% nectar and capped honey. Added a second honey super in position #3 (box3 is now box4). It is medium with half the frames having some built out wax and alternated with frames that are just foundation. Box2 4.5 sides of brood, rest nectar and pollen (some back-filling) Box1 12 sides of brood, rest nectar and pollen Considering last fall, this hive is now very mellow and not aggressive at all. I think the must have re-queened.