Quote Originally Posted by Rosie View Post
... in our climate, bees don't like to store honey beside the brood.

... the experience showed me that they ignore the ends of a large box and can't wait to move up into supers.
I wonder if the bees would be more inclined to store honey beside the brood if the long side walls of the hive were warmer? What I've read about poly hives is that the queen is more likely to use the entire frame right up to the sides than in wooden hives - so better insulated walls do make a difference. If so, maybe Puff's idea of using 2" thick walls might help (as long as one doesn't want to move the hive around too much). I have wondered about that myself.
Kitta