With reference to reply 8 - thanks for the thanks - it's aways good to hear when things work out accordng to plan.
Reference reply 9 - bees need fairly high temperatures in order to mould their wax secretions into comb, so it's highly unlikely that they'll be drawing any comb now, especially in a horizontal hive where ascending warmth is spread out across a much larger area than in a vertical hive. So my guess is that your girls will settle for those combs already in place - which is around 12 ? That should be enough for them to winter on.
There are four steps which can be taken prior to winter which gives bees the best possible chance of survival:
The first is to ensure that the colony is large enough. With only one colony there's not much that can be done to change this - but if you had (say) two very small colonies, then it would be wise to combine them into one larger colony. I agree with Jim (reply 10) that as your colony has drones present, that's an indication that it's reached a healthy size - and even from this distance I'd say big enough to stand a very good chance of making it through to spring.
The second step is to ensure that adequate stores are in place, and it sounds as if you have this well in hand. Raising brood is very expensive (in terms of energy requirements) so yes, it can be expected that brooding will reduce (and maybe even stop altogether) as 'winter bees' live for several months, and so from the colony's point-of-view combs are much better employed holding stores.
The third step is to reduce the occupied hive volume to a minimum. Assuming you have a partition (follower) board, then place that behind the 12th (or last) comb. The idea of using a partition board over the winter period is to provide a 'thermal curtain' to retain heat given off by the clustered bees, in order that they will then need to generate less heat by the burning-up of stores.
I used to make partition boards which were a precision fit, which is none too easy in vertical-sided hives, but here's a pic of what I've recently started to use:
The sides are made from soft PVC, stapled over a strip of foam rubber. These then take up any irregularities in hive width. The top needs to be sealed as well as possible to the crown board (inner cover), again, so as to keep the heat in. I leave a two inch gap at the bottom, to allow any wayward bees to easily rejoin their sisters.
An alternative to the partition board/ thermal curtain, would be to fill the excess space with cardboard boxes wrapped in plastic and well taped down.
The fourth step is to insulate the top of the hive - either with sheets of expanded polystyrene, old hessian (burlap) sacks, or whatever form of insulation is available.
All of my Long Hives (except one) has a feeder shell between the hive and roof which allows the installation of expanded polystyrene insulation and overhead jar feeders. This one - a KTBH converted to a dual deep framed Long Hive - is that single exception, and is the nearest I have to your own hive shape:
As you can see, there's just enough room under the pitched roof for a handful of hessian sacks and a couple of jar feeders.
Hope at least some of the above helps.
LJ