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Basics of wintering
Try to get as big colony as possible before winter.
Cluster will be as big as brood area on late summer.
If hive is allowed to lay in one box, it doess not need 2 boxes to over winter.
When a beek gather honey for winterfood, perhaps queen has not enough room to lay winter brood. Perhaps result is half box cluster and two boxes honey.
And those mites will take their own from cluster brood.
Own queen rearing. ... When you start from emergency cell, in good case the queen starts to lay after a month. And then, 4 weeks, that new bees have emerged in numbers. Almost 2 months that colony is able to grow.
Small colonies in normal box, mesh floor open, no insulations...
I have read these stories from forum for years. Experinced beekeepers teach beginners to take big risks.
You winter is not bad, but it is long. A small cluster in a vast space means heat losses, condensation inside the hive and deglining healt of bees.
But I have been told, our climate is different. Nothing to learn from oversees. I have tried to teach how to get big colonies in short time. But you, many want to build up colonies as slow as possible. That is forum life.