In the Fall, do the bees fill the empty brood cells with honey?
I've noticed a few of my hives doing that. Maybe a good Fall flow and getting honey bound or this is regular behaviors?
The combs on the side aren't all filled yet so they do have places to put honey if necessary.
Yes they do.
They back fill the outer edges of the brood nest with honey, pollen, & any syrup you feed them. Their brood area shrinks to a size they can manage through the Winter.
That's what I thought but my girls in two hives, are filling anywhere they find.... almost looks like it'll go honeybound.
you have mild winters, so you do need to keep an eye on the brood nest to make sure they don't fill it completely. if you need to pull a few honey frames and replace with empty, you can do that in your climate even in winter. freeze the honey frames you have pulled and feed them back later if you need to. you have had some rain and i suspect you have a fall flow going on.
just keep an eye on them. they will reduce brood area even in your winters, but probably not go broodless. if you see that the queen has no room to lay, add a frame, but don't overdo it.
also, check the members map. seems there were some members pretty close to you. try to PM them and see what the are doing for hive management this year.
yeah, the flow has been pretty good for over 1 month now. Some hives went from almost no stores to filling up.
Now the eucalyptus is blooming and some starting to bloom. The rain definitely helps. :)