>
>      I'd like to know what the optimum colony size in number of frames is
> for wintering.


Pretty hard question to answer. I winter on all sizes from 30 frames down
to 4. I guess what matters is the % of young bees in the colony, and how
they have setup their broodnest. Some colonies are more conservative than
others. They can pack the honey and pollen into a smaller space, and winter
on less combs, with fewer bees.



>What is too large and what is too small?


Is there a "too large"? Maybe not. The bees will adjust to the size. This
might mean leaving on too much honey, and having it be
wasted...crystallized in the spring so it can't be extracted. I think there
is a too small though. I can see trying to reduce the size of the
colony...after the flows are finished...and removing the stored pollen by
taking the top box of honey. That would be a mistake.




>  how many frames do you usually end up with in the spring before the
> first pollen flows?


It varies too much to be important. Some bees winter with small clusters,
and some with large. The small, conservative colonies often wait until
there is pollen available and then expand rapidly. I think it more
meaningful to count the size of the cluster...actually number of frames of
brood...at the first flow like Dandelion. Mine have 1 to 14 frames of brood
at this point, with most 6 to 9. The 4 frame nucs have 1 to 4, with the
average being 3.

>Please indicate where you live, if you use pollen sub, supplemental
>feeding, and what strain of bees you have.
>Josh


I keep my bees in the northern Champlain Valley of Vermont and New York,
along the Canada Border. I use pollen substitute on some colonies, and feed
HFCS in the fall if a colony needs more stores to make it through to
Dandelion bloom. I raise my own queens, but years ago, they were a mix of
Buckfast and Carniolan.

Mike
St. Albans, Vermont

>





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