I'll start with last years weather in NH. Almost a record for the wettest year with rain just about every day during June and July. In November, after feeding for more than a month, there were four hives that were too light to last the winter. Instead of depleting stores from other hives I decided to go a different root. I put a division board in two 8 frame mediums to make four-four frame hives. I used two frames of brood and two of honey and pollen. Now, I put an excluder on this box with another 8 frames of honey above. I was hoping they would not fight as they were small clusters but still flying on warmer days. My reasoning was if one of the queens died the bees would go to the other box for colony support. Well, it was 35F today and a little knock on the box let me know they were well. I opened the top and gave them a patty I made and they loved the food.
I did put them on the top of a strong hive and insulated them very well..so..I expect they were not good queens but instead of combining and loosing a hive..I have another hive I will re-queen early in spring. This is a surprise...dang...you have to love these girls.
John
Good luck in 2010, JR! :)