> Possible implications for the support of keeping bees in smaller colonies.
>

If you do not care about honey production. Actually not much new here since
all it says is that bees that start foraging early are shorter lived, which
is exactly what you have with more bees and why highly populated hives
produce more honey. Also why you want more bees surviving winter. The aim
of a beekeeper, if they want surplus honey, is to maximize the population
as early as possible (while controlling swarming).

If honey is not the object, then small hives make sense if you are in the
right climate.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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