I echo Bill's comments.  We do the same.
 
This matter of schlepability has become particularly important as we venture
into our planned major expansion from 8 to 60 hives this spring.  The
venture is expected to be run principally by my wife, a strong woman but no
amazon.  Heaving full deeps is out of the question.  So, as soon as that air
compressor and nailer get here we'll be stapling together 300 or so of the
buggers.
 
Tim
 
At 07:48 PM 11/15/96 -0500, you wrote:
>How does one winter a hive made of three meduium boxes?
>
>I prefer to winter in three medium boxes, with at least 60 lb of honey stored
>for the winter.  Towards the end of March, the bees are completly out of the
>lowest box.  This box is then removed, detail inspected, and cleaned, then
>replaced on top of the colony to make my first reverse.  A box of fresh drawn
>comb can be used to rotate the hive's comb, in which case the old bottom
>box's comb is scraped off and melted down.   Since I use plastic foundation,
>the cleaned old bottom box now becomes a super of undrawn foundation waiting
>for the honey flow.
>
>Occasionally, I will winter a colony with 4 medium boxes, expecially if the
>top box is not quite fully capped or was gathered when I had Apistan strips
>in the colony.
>
>I normally make hive inspections during January warm spells, and adjust
>things as needed at that time.
>
>As for supering and splits, they are done much the same as if I was running
>deeps + mediums.  The main exception is that when I make a spring split from
>Illinois frames, I use 4 frames instead of the three customarily used from
>deeps.  These Illinois splits enjoy an excellent market from local
>beekeepers.
>
>Before readers do likewise, please compare my Washington, DC location to your
>own.
>
>W. G. Miller
>Gaithersburg, MD
>
>
 
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