Over in Eastern NC, I'd imagine our winter will be just a tad bit colder than Thomson, GA. Probably similar. I'm also wondering about the setup for winter. I've got 6 brood comb sandwiched in between honey comb now. My entrance is on one end of the box. The bees filled 3 bars with honey comb, followed by 6 bars of brood, and then 5(and counting) bars of honey comb. I suppose they want that insulation on both ends of the brood, come winter.
Should I shuffle all the honey to one end for winter? My instincts are telling me to leave it alone and let bees be bees. I assume they will winter in the back where the larger amount of honey is located. Should I leave those 3 bars of insulation honey where they are, and trust the bees to have enough for the winter in the back? I haven't taken any honey from these girls because it is their first year, and they started as a smaller swarm. I plan to harvest some honey next spring when the flow starts.