I had a bunch of hive boxes from 20 years ago and thought I'd set up a minimum hive for my garden and maybe a little surplus for gifts etc.
Can I set up a brood deep with a deep and a shallow super for their winter food and then just ride it out and take some surplus from a 3rd deep maybe and a shallow for comb to assure them space from year to year? I don't want to mess with them much and if they swarm, so be it, as long as a group stays behind to take care of business for me.
Is this a bad plan or poor bee management?
Fog
Can I set up a brood deep with a deep and a shallow super for their winter food and then just ride it out and take some surplus from a 3rd deep maybe and a shallow for comb to assure them space from year to year? I don't want to mess with them much and if they swarm, so be it, as long as a group stays behind to take care of business for me.
Is this a bad plan or poor bee management?
Fog