>
>
> If you do not care about honey production.  . . . If honey is not the
> object, then small hives make sense if you are in the

right climate.
>

I'm not sure this is an entirely accurate statement, across the board. Yes,
one hive of 40,000 bees will produce more extractable honey than two hives
with 20,000 bees. But at the same time, I operated all doubles and switched
to singles two years ago, and my "per hive" honey average increased.
Smaller hives actually increased my honey production.

I've also observed that larger colonies have more problems with mites and
resulting viruses. While a colony with 80,000 bees might produce more honey
than two hives with 40,000 bees each, it won't matter much in year two if
the 80,000 bee colony perished while the two 40,000 bee colonies continue
plugging along.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html