I lost 8 of my 10 hives in Northeastern Illinois last winter. However, the hives that survived I was able to split and the packages that I purchased built up really well. I just harvested 5 medium supers per and will leave the fall flow for the bees. Incidently, I don't think that leaving the smaller (I know that it's different for each local) for the winter is bad practice. This will have the bees wintering on honey, not imitation.