>>Farrar, who was arguably a bee expert as opposed to an amateur bee 
theoretician,  went to the opposite extreme from the jumbo and used 
three 6-5/8 boxes for brood.

Even in cement block walls, colonies keep continuous comb.  Colonies can build up very quickly on tall, continuous comb(s).  Especially in a tight hollow.

I lost one of my strongest colonies this winter in a 3 deep set-up.  I normally reduce my colonies to one or two deeps but this one was an exception.  The late fall broodnest spanned all 3 deeps and was roughly 2-3 frame wide.  The last batch of sealed brood in the fall was in the bottom deep and they did not abondon it.  The queen was in the upper deep the lots of bees in between.  There were lots of stores adjacent to the starved cluster which had two priorities: 1. cover the sealed brood and 2. follow the rising heat and honey up.  That did them in once they reached the inner cover and lacked the girth to move sideways.

I am sure they would have fared much better had it not been for the persistantly cold winter in my area this year.

5 frame nucs survived just fine on the other hand.

Waldemar  

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