We had a long warm, autumn in 2019 that included Hurricane Sally wiping flat most of the goldenrod. So there was little fall forage and lots of late foragers flying around burning fuel while looking for food.
And robbing.
I lost some hives to robbing even with reduced entrances. In one yard, it was def not my bees, I saw a jetstream of bees from the Northeast.... it was all over, they'd taken out three healthy hives.
ln another yard, it was my own bees that robbed, because suddenly they were "rich." Well, for that...they had to give it up to make a three-frame split taken away yesterday. It sort of evens out, but not when I'm sentimental about certain queens. I still hate it.
I froze the comb from the rob-outs, and have it on hand for expansion.
Based on my photos from last year, spring is here 20-30 days behind last year. That is, the white wax/drones/heavy spring flow of Cliftonia ("tie-tie"), red maple, carolina laurel, redbud. It's all happening late. The last 10 days they've been crazy busy bees.
I use all mediums, and most colonies were in 1 single box in Jan. I'm now at double layers all around, getting pretty packed out.