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.

I agree with Bill T that the effect upon longevity of very small
*colonies* appears
to be due to a larger proportion of the workers extending their time as
nurses before transitioning to mid-age and foraging duties.  Note in
Rueppell's  Fig 5 that when they finally started foraging, those
extended-nursing foragers didn't live very long.

Note also that those very small colonies focused upon pollen collection to
feed those nurses, rather than upon nectar collection.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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