> For clarification, the size of the colony and the height of the stack of honey supers are two different things. 

Thanks for pointing that out. However, the only real way to get a handle on the size of the colony is to weigh the bees. 

The number of combs they cover will be influenced by any number of things such as temperature, humidity, flow conditions, etc. But you're right, number of boxes they're in is not a direct metric with which to judge colony strength. 

On the other hand, a good beekeeper will super according to the "strength" of the colony and this would reflect roughly the number of bees. [note: beekeepers use the term "strength" as in: strength in numbers]

PLB

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