@djsumdog left all but the two mean hives lots of honey reserves for the winter, like 40lbs per hive, plus they are insulated so they consume it slower. Lots of cow pasture around here where they obtain quite a bit of honey surprisingly. I think 100lbs per hive is normal around here. Last year was my first year tho so most of their honey was used to build comb. Just like this year my goal will be most of the hives building the equivalent of 14 deep langstroth frames and saving enough honey for the winter. Have access to like 8 pastures each about 2-5 miles from each other so if I do 5 mile circles around all the apiaries I can cover like 250-300 sqare miles. Also the local beekeeper died from covid 4 years ago so there were like no bees anywhere around here so I have it all to myself as far as I know. It think I could probably comfortably house 1-2k colonies, but I'd probably not get 100lbs per hive if I go that dense. Trying to do it the old fashioned russian way where farmers would have 1000 colonies and just check them one or two times a year. Not doing any treatment bullshit, want to breed strong bees, not strong mites. Losses will be rough for awhile but in the long run it will be best for the bees.