Thoughts on Super Management

[jajtiii]

Greetings,

I did a split back in early June. I checked the queenless hive two weekends ago and found eggs. During this check, I also manipulated the hive a bit and am now wondering if I should have.

Background/FYI
1. In my area, my mentor and a lot of other folks winter their bees with two deeps. I did this last Winter with my two starter hives and all worked well.
2. The general philosophy is that you feed them until they draw out the two deeps.
3. Our flow typicallly ends in mid-June, but pretty much ended in early June this year, thanks to a variety of environmental factors.
4. Our first frost is around Oct 15

This Hive Setup
When I did the split, I basically took two deeps and 1 medium. I divided them into two separate deeps and gave each one a few frames off of the medium (I really wasn't thinking clearly, in retrospect - this was my first split and I just didn't prepare properly - I should have had two empty deeps ready to go on both hives). So, now I have each hive with a Deep full of bees, brood, honey and pollen. In addition, they have a medium up top with 3 or 4 worked (drawn with some capped honey and some nectar) frames each.

What I Did
When I went to check on queen activity two weekends ago, I found eggs but also decided to put a deep on them. I moved two frames that either had capped honey or nectar in them into the middle of the otherwise empty (except for frames with foundation) deep. I had been feeding these bees while they were raising the queen and they had pretty much put nectar/honey in all frames but two. I took the two frames to the outside of the two with eggs and put them up top, replacing them with empty foundation. I wanted to give them some room and also get them to start working on the Deep up top.

What I Just Found
So, being the consummate pessimist, I went in again just now, to find the queen (I have never had laying workers, so I naturally (being paranoid in all of my life pursuits) always wonder if I have a laying worker when I find eggs but no queen - I am well aware of this insanity, but it is a character flaw that advice/books will not cure - one day I will have laying workers and that will cure it.)

Well, I found that big Lady and some really good brood pattern. The bees had already started to build out the foundation and she was laying in three and a half frames now. In the Deep, they had partially drawn out two more frames and were storing nectar (sugar water, mostly, I  bet) in them. At the very top, they are pretty much almost finished (putting a deep between them and the medium didn't matter - these bees finish the job at hand before moving to the next one!)

My Quandary
1. I want to stop feeding. I want them to open up the brood area a bit to let the queen make a good population before going into Winter.
2. But, I do not know what to do about the middle Deep now. They have 6.5 frames that still need to be drawn out and filled with winter stores
3. If I leave the medium on them, they would be fine, but I keep reading 'don't leave open space in the hive over winter', and leaving both the deep and the medium on them is bound to mean extra space, with all of that foundation. I am worried that feeding to encourage the build out of that remaining comb is going to continue to restrict the brood nest area.

Anyway, if you made it this far, I appreciate it. If you could give me some thoughts on how you would proceed from here, I would appreciate it.