> There appears to be some confusion here on terminology.  A "small hive"
> generally means a small *colony* in a single box, not a large colony in
> multiple boxes with the broodnest confined to a single brood chamber.  This
> thread originally had nothing to do with single brood chamber management
>

Thanks. I was going to post the same thing, that a signal brood nest with
multiple supers is not a small hive as far as population. Many operate in
this way but it is for honey production, which seems counter to my post,
but is why I added "climate" since I need more bees and more honey to make
it through a Maine winter with minimal manipulation.

Just listened to a talk by our State Apiarist on overwintering nucs, which
are classic "small hives". The method is to put another nuc flush against
it and a nuc of honey over each. Result is a two deep configuration. Love
the irony.

As far as Randy's comment on winter feeding,

However, in some regions, the late honey (such as from canola or ivy) may
crystallize and dehydrate to the extent that the wintering bees are unable
to use it.
In other areas (such as mine), the bees put on honeydew which is high in
undigestible sugars (and perhaps other natural chemicals) that cause
dysentery and poor wintering.

again I agree. I have to pull my fall honey because of both crystallization
and honeydew. The problem we in clod climates have with granulation is it
uneven return to "normal" honey. It moves from a solid to a partial
liquid/solid and ferments. Honeydew does not crystallize here and usually
is not capped so it also can ferment. Plus it has too many minerals which
leads t a high ash content and with our long winters, the bees need to poop
and cannot.

I have posted often about George Imire's method of honey manipulation to
keep the bees with "good" honey overwinter and it works. Before that my
bees suffered from "dysentery and poor wintering".

BTW, long ago Richard Taylor championed single brood boxes for making both
lots of comb or normal frame honey so there is not much new under the sun.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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