Getting Ready for Fall

Our first frosts came this week. The bees are busy for a few hours in the mid-afternoon when the hives are in the sun but when it cools off they're staying inside where it's warm. The foragers that do make it out are bringing in lots of bright gold pollen. I wonder where it's coming from.
Both hives are heavy and full of honey so I hope they're ready for winter. I checked on the girls last week and Cam's hive is looking really good: the top box is full of honey and the bottom is packed with pollen and brood in the middle with frames of honey on the sides. Beautiful! Toby's hive is looking better: the new queen is getting up to speed and laying more eggs. There's a lot more brood than the week before which is encouraging. They have lots of honey too. It's getting too cold to do much more in the way of inspections so I think it's going to be up to the girls now. Yikes! I'll worry about them all winter until I check on them in early spring (March) to see if they survived the winter. I plan to sign up for the second-year beekeeping class next year so I can learn about the management of over-wintered colonies. Worst case scenario is both hives dying out during the winter. Best case is they both survive with a big population and are ready to rock and roll once the flowers start blooming. That might mean splitting a hive into two. Or seeing a swarm. Only time will tell. For now, I just have to get stuff stored away for winter. And eat honey!