The best laid schemes....

... o' mice an' men gang aft agley.
I had added a top bar in Olea's and the bees had built comb on it.  Last week the comb was covered with bees so I added a ninth bar.  Olea's seems to be doing well.
Today, I looked into #3 to see if it might need a new frame.  The first thing I noticed was that there were fewer bees than I expected.  Then I saw a capped queen cell.  This cell is smaller than the usual queen cell.  I looked for the queen, but did not see her.  I am afraid that the queen died somehow and the bees are making a replacement.  Unfortunately, there are no drones at this time of year for her to mate with.  I have read that if a queen does not mate within week or so of emerging that she will never mate.  I had schemed that this colony would be a strong one come spring and I would only need to make one split from #1.  Ah, well...
I looked into #1 and there is still brood in the medium box.  I did not look into the deep box.

#3 is back!

Today I moved the five frames of the nuc into a deep box.  I used the recently made divider boards to control the space in the box.  There was honey on three of the frames and brood on two.  I did not spend time looking for the queen as it as cool.  When I was done, the bees were going in and out their new home.

Before

After

Inside the hive after transferring the frames.  Note divider boards.

Last night, it came to me that the frames probably were not aligned with the opening of the entrance reducer.  I went out in the cold this morning and shifted the frames more to the side and corrected the situation.  The devil is in the details.

Divider boards for the Langstroth hive.

I was contemplating the details of moving the nuc colony into a full-sized deep box when I came to the realization that I just needed to make the deep box smaller in a way that would also allow for expansion.  I gave some thought to how about doing so, then looked on the internet.  No need to reinvent the wheel!
I cut a top bar in half length-wise and used the wedge from it to make spacers.  Then using some wood I had lying around, I made two divider boards.

The divider boards showing the two sides

How they will go into a deep box.  The frames go between, of course.

Now on the the next warmish day I will transfer the five frames from the nuc into a deep box.  If it looks crowded I will also add a frame or two of drawn comb.
The bees in the top bar hive have built a comb on the extra bar I put in some time ago.  As of now, it is not covered with bees, but when it is I will add another bar.