Off to catch the queens in the nucs I referenced in another post. The new owner took over the operation. With the old owner retireing. Unfortunately once you have been stung it is so hard to quit. It is about finding the sweet spot in numbers that suit you. 1 hive is really hard as time spent is far to short. You have difficulty in dealing with issues such as boosting hives that need it or getting rid of brood in one about to swarm.
Keeping your yard in balance makes manament much easier Extra brood is far easier to deal with as you can remove bees and brood raise a new queen and start a new colony. Too few and you can't boost when needed as you don't have brood to share.
I recommend 4 as a minimum. 28 as a hobby. Stepping in to a business 128 gives you genetic diversity to maintain healthy stocks, give a descent number of nucs each season support 100 or more queen rearing nuc and give a decent honey crop. A full time job for one with occasional help
You will note that the numbers are divisible by 4. I teach students to use pallets arranged in a circle. 4 on the pallet for summer in the winter.
