Beekeepers are told all the time that a successful, prosperous, honeybee colony is one that is populous and healthy. There's no real mystery in that. The more bees there are to share the workload, the more the bees are able to regulate the conditions of the colony.
However, there is something I have been looking at more closely that relates to the ratio of bees to space in the hive. It's pretty simple I think. The bigger the space they inhabit and the fewer bees due to a low population, the less able the bees are to regulate the hive as a whole. It's a matter of distribution. Fewer bees that have to cover more space makes the job more difficult.
The more spread out the bees are, the less able they are to successfully defend the hive against predators, pests and handle colony related health issues such as cleaning out combs and put into effect hygienic behaviors.
The ratio of bees per square inch in a hive is important I think. Perhaps more important than most might give it credit for.
We know already, for example, that if there are too many bees per square inch, that bees will tend to overcrowd the space available and be inclined to swarm. The fewer bees per square inch relative to space, the more likely the bees will be able to keep up maintenance and fall behind, allowing problems to build and eventually force the colony to become ill, dwindle, die or abscond.
Many beekeepers using larger hive bodies will sometimes address this issue by artificially stimulating egg laying in the colony with feeding certain things to bees. Another way is to add two or more colonies together in a variety of a "combine" so that there are more bees to fill the space. If the hive population becomes too high, artificial swarms and splits are created to reduce the hive populations. Hive boxes themselves can be adapted by inserting "dummy boards" at the ends to make a smaller space for the bees within the larger box as well.
This is another reason I have come to prefer using 5 frame hive boxes as year round hives. They are as large as a "natural" void space as a single and as the colony expands, it can be enlarged to meet the spacial demands to prevent swarming. All the meanwhile, it makes the most of the bees per square inch ratio by allowing the bees to manage a space that, in my opinion thus far, is far easier for them to manage should they be a small, less populous colony.
Fall and Winter are times when certain types of honeybees will reduce their populations to conserve stores. This leaves a large hive less well protected in the colder months when the bees are clustered and it is too cold for them to move about.
Large hives also seem less energy efficient in terms of regulating temperature in a hive, especially in Winter. The heat the bees produce is often taken away from them by a "chimney" effect with heat being pulled away from the cluster in the center and rising up into the four corners that are empty. This leaves the bees in the center and the food stores directly above and surrounding them colder and having to work harder. Working harder eventually results in consuming stores more rapidly to sustain the effort of producing heat.
Many beekeepers prefer to use larger hive bodies because they are standardized, thus easier to buy and implement on existing hive systems. Also because they allow the colony to expand into the space but requiring less maintenance by the beekeeper in terms of having to add more boxes more frequently.
Hive space management is something all beekeepers have to pay attention to, but keepers of smaller sized hive bodies have to pay closer attention and spend more time, more frequently, making sure the space is appropriate to the size or the anticipated size, of the colony.
Based on my observations and minor tests in hives thus far, I will continue to use my 5 frame boxes and horizontal top bar hives as they fit best into my apiary plans, taking into consideration the "bees to hive space" ratio.
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