a long Mr Lister and Mr Borst snip...
> >> But weighing hives is a fools errand.

The original post mentioned using the data to produce forecasts. Actually, I follow weather stats quite closely and I don't think anyone could have predicted that the steady above normal temps here in March would bring out spring blossoms, only to have record breaking cold temps in the first week in April, killing the flowers. 

Weather, bloom periods, nectar flows, colony response, weight gain, etc. is inherently unpredictable. An experienced beekeeper knows what's going on after glancing into a few hives. In any case, I would like to see some concrete evidence that tracking hive weights over time produces anything more than data, of limited interest and even less usefulness. Bring it on.

my comments...
I shall start off here by point out the obvious which is Mr Linder's statement (now repeated several times) is highly demeaning to anyone that does formally or informally measure a hive (or hives) weight.  Which as far as my own experience goes includes every successful beekeeper I ever knew or worked for.  Perhaps someone is painting a clearer picture as to why some beekeepers fail or not?  That is management's failure to recognize and respond to basic ESSENTIAL data.

Mr Borst first paragraph (above) on the non predictive nature of tomorrow's weather has absolutely nothing to do with any real measure of a hives weight.  Quite plainly one is speculative and the other quite concrete.  One you can generate solid plans around one and the other not so much.  

I have previous suggest formal and informal ways that beekeeper traditionally measured weight and as far as I know none did this simply to pass the time of day.  It did drive a lot of future decisions. And to fill in Mr Borst lack of experience in the value of weight.... you can now have scales built into the forks of bob cats loader (skid steer in the language of the folks who make and sale these things) to give you an approximate idea of how much weight you are placing on a truck.  Beyond the aspect of not taxing the physical limits of the truck you also reduce the consequence of being fined by the state police who (at least here) are actively looking for such infractions of the law.  Even decades ago EVERY semi load of bees we shipped was run across an agricultural scale (at the local grain elevator) to make certain the individual axel weight and the gross weight of the truck was not exceeded.   Failure to do this would lead to fines at the state scales (normally located at each state boarder) and the not so pleasant job of stripping off nets and relocating individual hives by hand to comply with the law.

There is imho nothing wrong with asking hard question (not that the hard applies here at all) but one does not polish one's reputations by disagreeing simply to be disagreeable.      

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