Just to interject an "aside" to the main topic.

Nice well drawn deep combs are a major contributory cause to several "types" of the "starvation" listed.  The problem is probably increased by the use of plastic combs.

I used to enjoy the reaction, when Steve Taber was inevitably asked how to improve wintering.  Folks would damn near go into cardiac arrest when he would answer the question.  I can still hear him saying, "You know those perfectly drawn deep frames of yours that make you so proud, take something an punch a hole in the center of them!"

Basically his point was, they were too deep. When the cluster contracts, under natural circumstances, it contracts vertically and horizontally simultaneously.  If sections of the cluster lose contract, preventing horizontal contraction, there is a good chance some of them might starve.  In hives with "perfect" frames, once portions of the cluster are out of contact, it is effectively reduced to a virtual "loaf of sliced bread" with each "slice" a separate unit unable to give or receive population or stores during extended cold periods.

Taber did a lot of work on wintering, hearing about them and the results was informative to say the least.  I really believe that man forgot more about bees than most of us will ever know.  

Tabor's mentor, C.L. Farrar, bee wintering expert extraordinaire, advocated using nothing but medium depth supers and, as one of his justifications, gave improved wintering.  Morse on the other hand, wrote he allowed nothing but deeps on the place.  I always assumed that "place" was Dyce at Cornell but after a number of visits over the years and seeing every depth in use regularly, one has to wonder where he was talking about.  The two "experts" only show the two sides of the beekeeping equation, effective bee biology versus effective commercial honey extraction, as is so often the case, the truth lies somewhere in between. 

The bottom line appears to be, if you want to use perfectly drawn deep frames, plan your cold snaps to coincide with times when all segments of the "loaf" are spanning two supers, i.e. the total cluster interconnected by the gap between the bottom bars of one super and the top bars of another.  Barring lack of stores or an established brood nest, starvation shouldn't be an issue.

Rip

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