Matt,
I never expected to have my bees do much more than draw comb and build up some this year. Our instructor in the bee keeping class had told us to pull a couple of frames from each hive to get an idea what we were working for and the same was what I read most places. Good things that my girls could not read. No, really the nucs I started with were very strong and loaded with bees and all three had great laying queens. The Lord blessed us with an early mild spring and we have had lots of rain and living in town with plenty of small gardens and flowers.
No swarms and after I had quit feeding they just took off and loaded up stores of honey. I really believe that almost anywhere in Alabama you could over winter very well with a single deep and medium or three mediums but since I still have so many bees, each hive is loaded, that I plan to have the two 8 frame deeps and a medium. Treating again now for mites and hope that all I have to do till spring is make sure they have food.
GT