I've noticed my operation is both simpler and more complex than most. But lets focus on simpler.
When I can, I only feed honey and I only use one size frames and I try not to use any chemcials. I usually don't use an excluder unless I have a good reason. If you don't use any essential oils or chemicals and you don't feed syrup and you have all the same size frames here are the problems you avoid.
You don't have to worry about whether you have supers on or not, because you don't feed anything that isn't honey.
You don't have to worry about extracting something that was in the brood chamber, to make room in a honey bound brood nest etc, because it's all honey. No chemicals, no sugar syrup, no essential oils.
You can take frames out of supers and add them to the brood chambers and food chambers of weak hives to get them through the winter.
You can bait up your supers either with honey or brood from the brood nest to get them to work in them.
You don't have to mess with an excluder and the bees don't have to fight through it over and over and over.
You have less swarms because if the queen gets too crowded (one of the leading causes of swarms) she can lay wherever she wants.
If the queen lays in a super you can move the frame back down to the brood nest and swap it with a frame of honey.
How many of you have these problems:
Brood in the super and it's a shallow so you can't move it to the brood chamber because it's a deep.
Honey bound brood nest, can't extract the honey because of fear of chemical contamination.
Lots of honey in shallow or medium supers but I need honey in deeps to put in week colonies.
A brood nest of mixed sizes and I want to rearrange it, but can't because one box is a medium and one is a deep.
A deep box full of honey and I can't lift it.
Can't feed syrup right now because there are still supers on.
You would like to treat for mites, but can't because there are supers on and a late honey flow.
Bees don't want to work the supers because of the queen excluder.
I understand some of you are starting out and don't have honey to feed. Sugar syrup is better than starvation.
Also many of you, like me, blundered into beekeeping following the "recomended procedures" and haven't figured out how simple life can be.
When I can, I only feed honey and I only use one size frames and I try not to use any chemcials. I usually don't use an excluder unless I have a good reason. If you don't use any essential oils or chemicals and you don't feed syrup and you have all the same size frames here are the problems you avoid.
You don't have to worry about whether you have supers on or not, because you don't feed anything that isn't honey.
You don't have to worry about extracting something that was in the brood chamber, to make room in a honey bound brood nest etc, because it's all honey. No chemicals, no sugar syrup, no essential oils.
You can take frames out of supers and add them to the brood chambers and food chambers of weak hives to get them through the winter.
You can bait up your supers either with honey or brood from the brood nest to get them to work in them.
You don't have to mess with an excluder and the bees don't have to fight through it over and over and over.
You have less swarms because if the queen gets too crowded (one of the leading causes of swarms) she can lay wherever she wants.
If the queen lays in a super you can move the frame back down to the brood nest and swap it with a frame of honey.
How many of you have these problems:
Brood in the super and it's a shallow so you can't move it to the brood chamber because it's a deep.
Honey bound brood nest, can't extract the honey because of fear of chemical contamination.
Lots of honey in shallow or medium supers but I need honey in deeps to put in week colonies.
A brood nest of mixed sizes and I want to rearrange it, but can't because one box is a medium and one is a deep.
A deep box full of honey and I can't lift it.
Can't feed syrup right now because there are still supers on.
You would like to treat for mites, but can't because there are supers on and a late honey flow.
Bees don't want to work the supers because of the queen excluder.
I understand some of you are starting out and don't have honey to feed. Sugar syrup is better than starvation.