Much has happened since the last posting. I will try to keep it short.
#2 did not make it. The two boxes never combined and the hive was robbed. It has been dismantled and awaits bees next year.
Olea's continues to be strong on its 7 bars. On one inspection, I saw no honey so started feeding with 1:1 syrup. I used the entrance feeder, placing it inside the box. The bees accessed it by going under the following board. I added another bar when I started feeding and saw some new wax today. I also saw more honey stores so I will no longer feed them after the present batch of syrup is gone.
#1 is still doing well. When harvesting honey, there was brood in the bottom-most super so no honey was taken from that box. We did get a fair amount of honey. This is about half.
After the honey was taken, I put Apivar strips into the hives and the nuc. I took them out today.
On earlier looks, the bottom box of #1 seemed pretty empty. Today I wanted to remove it in order to reduce the hive and do some repairs on the box. However, after taking out 4 frames with empty comb, I saw a large patch of capped brood on the 5th; end of plan. So #1 still is two deeps and one medium. Some of the honey in the medium may have been made when the Apivar was in the hive, so I will not be able to harvest in. I would like to remove the box before the honey flow next spring but I won't do it as long as brood is present.