Quoting Tom:
> House your bees in small hives. Consider using just one deep hive body for a broodnest and one medium-depth super over a queen excluder for honey.

This arrangement is similar to the AZ hive of Slovenia, which has one brood chamber and one honey chamber. The hive opens from the back, so frames can be removed whenever they are full. So far as I know, this small is not immune to varroa, they have been using oxalic on them for decades. 

I think the key in Tom's setup is that the hives just swarm themselves down to nothing. All the brood hatches and during the broodless period varroa can't reproduce. Maybe they even drift off with the foraging bees and wind up in other hives. 

I would survive making less honey, since I don't keep bees for a living, just for fun. But to kick back and let them swarm into the woods  -- no can do I. 

PLB

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