Dartington last winter. 11 frames, no super, strong colony. Bees used all the stores on one side and left the other half untouched. Put down to them staying on the warmer side of the hive. Biggest aggravation was clearing those stores in spring!
Second Dartington. 8 or 9 brood frames, super above. Loads of stores left in the spring.
Jumbo Nationals. All left with a completely full brood box. None supered.
None had any top ventilation as they are all fitted with OMFs (most of which remained fully open all winter) a couple were part-closed in the really cold spell.
Bees have happily over-wintered, with no condensation problems for the past seven years, with OMFs. They likely use a little more stores if left completely open (simple energy balance) but survive without too much difficulty.
All my hives will have some form of extra winter clothing, ranging from a simple expanded polystyrene sheet over the crownboard, to 50mm sheets on the sides (and insulated dividers at each end of the brood nest of the Dartingtons). Costs little and emulates the conditions found in polyhives. Brooding starts earlier and the nest is wall-to-wall if insulation is good. Less energy is expended keeping the cluster/nest warm, so less stores consumed.
Obviously if one has, say, a couple hundred hives, the approach may be different as there is much greater scope to unite colonies in the spring, to maximise honey production, so time and expenditure on individual colonies may less in those examples.
Everyone will have a different set of ideas and mine is undoubtedly different from the majority of beeks out there. My simplistic view of the whole thing - honey is a winter fuel.
Regards, RAB
