if you have the equipment i can't see where managing 15 hives in one yard is any different than managing 5. keep in mind that you may be maxing out the number of colonies that can be sustained in that spot, though. then again, it may support 40.
i'd say finski is pretty close with the number of supers. i'd want two deeps and at least 4 mediums ready for each colony at any time. do you have the storage space to handle that?
Well I bought 500 frames and 50lbs of foundation and more than likely have another 100 or so frames and 25lbs of foundation left over from last year. As far as boxes I have already got 30 mediums assembled. I plan to use mediums only so I guess I need 7 per colony that would put me at 105 total. I already moved 10 of the colony's to three different locations about 30miles apart. The distance was determined by finding land owners willing to let me place bees on their property. Plus the company I work for may let me keep a bee yard on the land holdings that must be kept as a wildlife reserve.
I was planning to raise queens for fall splits in my back yard. I have a couple of Russian queens being delivered next week.
What I hear you guys saying is It can be done if I'm willing to work. The thing is I just didn't expect this to happen so quickly. Looks like I JUST GOTTA KNUCKLE DOWN AND GET HER DONE.
If this is what I can expect I may be able to end up the year with 30 to 40 colonies. Well on my way to the 200 point goal in 5 years. Hopefully they could produce some income this year. Last year I dropped about 7g in start-up costs. I'm 57 and want to be commercial when I retire.