Hi! I'm very new.
Due to cash restraints and obeying the all powerful Google, I constructed my own Warre hive (more or less, timber shape required a weird roof, I only paid attention to beespace) and ordered a swarm from a local bee keeper. He came and installed it (rather late! In December!), and all went well - though he did state he'd never heard of such a hive and he seemed really cautious about it. It's all good, I'm in Australia so some have come across them, some haven't. I've only spoken to a few beekeepers here and everyone was suspicious of it, but that's fine, I know there are also some serious natural purists.
I don't even know what type of bees I have, though I have photos. They are super gentle, no stings, very little interest in me, TBH. I cleaned a few frames of propolis buildup and burr comb to keep them inspectable, the bees couldn't care less, so I'm lucky. Got to see the queen once, so very excited, like any other newbie.
It's not a true Warre hive - it has frames with a top bar and two sidebars, though no bottom bar. No foundation. My other one will be just the same, prolly with the same wonky roof, I'll build it over winter and try to double my bees in the Spring.
1. Will my bees likely regress in size?
2. Given that I'm nadiring, does that make any regression faster, because they'll be making new comb more often? Or is it more to do with the queen reproducing and new queens gradually getting smaller?
3. Any hints for new folks like me about Warre hive keeping?
4. Does new comb appreciably make any difference to disease issues, or are other factors far more powerful?
Have a picture of one of the girls drinking a drop of honey that came from some burr comb, her tongue is visible, which is pretty cute: