>Wow, lots of good questions.  

One that I am still wondering about, and an important one, is how new and how light the comb is.  It seems you have expanded significantly, so I infer you may have had quite a bit of new comb, especially in the upper boxes.  In my experience, bees just do not winter very well on new comb compared to how they winter on seasoned brood comb.  I don't know the reason, but that was one of the first important things I learned about prairie beekeeping.

Also, I was not suggestiing that your hives might not be well enough ventillated or too wet, but -- au contraire -- that they may have been *too* well ventillated and *too* dry.  Utilizing hard honey requires moisture and here on the prairies, hives can be too dry.  That may not be an issue where you are, though.

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