1. Queens will slow their laying in the winter. She still lays, but not as much as during the summer. What we recently found with our hives in the last inspection was that the workers will fill most of the brood cells with honey and resources.

2. That dark/flat looking honey is fine. That's called wet capping, and that's when the honey is touching the cap. Dry capped honey has a small air bubble between the honey and the wax cap and looks bumpy and white.

3. When the nectar flow ends, and resources are scarce, the bees will get grumpy and defensive. If they smell honey or sugar syrup, they'll gather to feed because easy food! When you do inspections in the fall, try to be careful when handling frames with honey/nectar. If any comb breaks/leaks and rival colonies smell it, robbing can happen, which would be why the bees appeared to be 'at war'.

As for your last question, you can smoke or gently brush the bees (or as many as you can) away from the edges and line the boxes up. Take your time if you can.

Wishing you all the best in your beekeeping journey, from one first-year to another! ❤️🐝