I have two smaller colonies: 1 that went queenless in mid-summer and was given a new queen, which
they accepted, and 1 that was "collected" outside a hive in a condominium wall, and was similarly
provided with a new queen, which they accepted. Both hives are bascially in a single brood box on
drawn comb with stores that are meager (2-3 frames of honey, plus brood and pollen).  I have a whole
brood box of drawn comb filled with honey that is a "spare" - that is all other hives have at least
a full brood box of winter stores, plus a second brood box of mixed brood/pollen/honey.

I don't know whether to try to overwinter the two small colonies by splitting the single brood box
of capped honey between them, or to combine them.  Additionally, I could take a "donated" frame of
brood from other stronger hives to boost the bee count in each.  I just don't know what the dynamics
are here, whether the techniques used to provide resources to small colonies generally succeed, or
whether combining usally ends up being the better alternative.

I'm seeking advice from those with more experience than I have.

This is New Jersey - the golden rod here is just passing it's fall peak, the bees are not really
clustering yet and are very busy on warm days, the nights are running about 60 degrees.