How much honey is a bunch of immature weak hives going to put up? Back to my
original comment. Maximum honey production IS obtained by maximum hive population.
Excuse me, but most of the members of this list have decades of experience. To make a statement like nucs don't make much honey is like saying you can take your shirt off when it's warm out. However, honey production is not solely a factor of colony population any more than 20 people make a better baseball team than 10.
Honey production is based upon traits, such as scouting ability, hive communication, bees of the appropriate age, etc. Of course, more bees will make more honey, all other things equal. But all other things are never equal. Honey bee colonies have "personalities"
SEE:
Wray, M. K., Mattila, H. R., & Seeley, T. D. (2011). Collective personalities in honeybee colonies are linked to colony fitness. Animal Behaviour, 81(3), 559-568.
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