>1)  Only Bob assumed "5 deeps".

Actually, I jumped to the same conclusion as Bob, that it was 5 deeps,
on the same flimsy evidence (none) that both points of view have been
derived from.

>If the actual configuration
>    is deeps, I would agree with Bob and Allen.  If the configuration is
>    mediums, then I would still disagree with Bob (and hence, Allen).
>    I await an answer, but I am guessing that we are talking mediums rather
>    than deeps.  "5 deeps" >>> WOULD <<< be silly.

Everything is in the circumstances, time of year, and locality. There is
a specific time of year that having a yard of colonies of this kind of
power would be wonderful here, but of course it is never going to
happen. Going into winter it would be a nightmare. In the active
management season (start May to start July here ) it would be a
nightmare. Just about at any time other than the onset of the heather
flow it would be a nightmare.

On the heather it is not unusual for us to have groups of colonies at 5
deeps high, with no excluder, and sometimes bigger than that, but by
season end the bees are down into no more than the bottom two boxes, and
have restricted themselves down to a manageable unit again. I have seen
lots of photos, from several places in real honey countries (ie. NOT
Scotland) where our big colonies would be considered mediocre in terms
of size.
>
>2)  Mass-production approaches as used by larger beekeepers are simply
>    NOT APPROPRIATE for a small, or even mid-sized beekeepers.

I have heard this voiced before, by amateur beekeepers. Then they come
out with you for a day or two as observers to see what you do, and
eventually realise that, albeit in an abbreviated form, you are still
observing the things that are necessary. In 3 mins a colony you gather
as much info and perform as much management as they do in half an hour,
and with a lot less disturbance to the colony routine. Soon you find
that they are adopting many of the shortcuts and techniques you use. The
distinction between professional and amateur is not as sharp as some
might think. Good management is just that, and applies equally across
the board.

>  Mass-production
>    approaches, where hives are standardized merely for handling, movement, and
>    the convenience of preventing hired hands from making mistakes, are clearly
>not
>    intended to maximize colony strength or honey production for the
>"gangbuster"
>    colonies.

OK, that is so, but the insertion of the word 'merely' implies some kind
of inferiority in the system. Not so. The goal of the commercial is not
to arrive at some kind of mediocre even level. I am sure there will many
(ex?) operators out there for whom that is true. The successful ones
will be very good at what they do, produce consistently good colonies
rather than consistently moderate ones, and make a viable honey crop
most years.

>I myself would not enter winter with such a configuration, my bees (NWCs)
>are famous for ceasing brood-rearing early, and wintering with a smaller
>cluster.

I use them too in part of our unit. Yet here they are our largest
overwintering colonies, and the most heavy users of stores. Of course
this is compared to the black bee, not to Italians, where the clusters
and stores consumption would be much greater still. To make comparisons
you have to be basing things on a like for like basis. My situation is
entirely different from yours or Bobs. My systems would not export to
your environment, nor most likely yours to mine.
>
>My most common winter-ready colony is a stack of three mediums.

Mine is a single deep. Six to eight bars of bees in black bees is a
respectable winter cluster, and 20Kg of stores is more than enough.


>b) Consistency has nothing to do with excellence.

All depends on how you measure excellence. Do you measure per colony? Do
you exclude the dinks? or perhaps use the true commercial measures of
'per man hour' or 'per dollar/pound spent'. If you use the latter my
money would be on the successful commercial guy. Then consistency has
everything to do with excellence.


>c) Bee colonies vary in strength.

Always, and it is constant job in the active season trying to correct
that, and no matter how good a job you do, in a relatively short time
they are back varying just as much again.
>
>Connect the dots.

I don't think they do connect. At least not from my perspective.

At the end of the day all I did was respond to a post and said it would
be a dream to have a whole yard of colonies like to one mentioned.
Nothing more. This has opened up a division that is probably more
perceived than real. You, me, Bob, Allen, all trying to achieve a
similar goal, but all in differing circumstances with different material
to work with.

You DO have to keep things manageable to get the best results.

--
Murray McGregor

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