> But weighing hives is a fools errand.  

Only in the rare event that the task is attempted by a fool.  :)

I only gave a few examples, as Peter tarred the idea using the same brush
used on the "Flow Hive", calling it something that would encourage
"know-nothing" beekeeping, when it is actually the first affordable way to
collect objective metrics on a regular basis about each and every hive in an
operation, one that can be used by the least experienced, least skilled, and
least physically fit worker you can enlist.

> You can hive a hive full of honey and brood starving 
> to death for protein.  

There are many edge conditions that  can only be detected by beekeeper
examination, but if a hive is full of honey, yet lacking protein, one would
expect the entire yard to suffer the same symptoms, and examination of any
hive in the yard would reveal the problem, assuming that one can notice this
at all.  I've seen undersized newly-emerged bees, but this is a little
"after the fact".  I have not heard anyone explain any other way to detect
this before the damage is done  - could you tell us your method?

> All your bees can disappear and die,  and the scale 
> only moves 3 pounds.  

False - the scale moves that 3 lbs, and then does not move further!  But
less weight change, when all the other hives around it are gaining or losing
weight at pretty much the same rate would warn the beekeeper that something
was amiss with that hive, hopefully well before the population dwindled to
zero.

> You wouldn't know the difference between a dead hive and 
> one just staying level.  

I'd submit that you would.  Again, it would at least not show a general
trend similar to that of its neighbors, and thereby flag itself for
inspection.  That's the whole idea - one pops the tops on and looks at the
outliers in the yard.

> Robbers in and out could fool you on weight.

Actually, no.  Robbing is going to likely result in a far more rapid loss of
stores and weight than would be experienced with a healthy hive in a dearth.
While the main reason would be the loss of the honey, the healthy hives will
likely be hot during a dearth when robbing can be an issue, and will forage
for more cooling water than usual, so there should be a minor weight
stabilization as a result, even with no nectar coming in the door.  So the
robbed hive would lose weight more rapidly than even the hive with the most
hungry mouths.    The robbers themselves, at 1/10th of a gram each, are not
going to be as easy to detect as the cumulative result of their robbing.

But weak hives and other edge conditions can be detected before they become
robbing victims, or at least earlier than they would otherwise be, as
weighing at least allows regular collection of objective metrics from all
one's hives, rather than the fragmented and subjective view gained from
inspection of random colonies based upon something like entrance activity at
10am.  One can certainly see some outlier hives at 8am looking at entrance
activity, but it is a subjective measure, and pretty much impossible to
quantify, as some hive simply are "early risers" as compared to others.

> No way to tell a queen is a drone layer,  
> no spotting foulbrood picking up,  
> and even Fischer's top quality Nectar Detector cant weigh mites......

No directly, but the hives not gaining or losing weight at a rate equal to
others is perhaps the easiest way to see the impact of poorly-performing
queens, diseases, or pests, and flag the hive for inspection.  So, you still
need to inspect to figure out what the specific problem is

>> I am old and have a poor back.

A good reason to stop "hefting" hives, and start using something that does
not result in so much back strain.

>>> So I started keeping records of that information. 
>>> let me learn more about my own mistakes than 
>>> I knew before I was taking those records.

Another happy convert to data-driven beekeeping!  

At risk of sounding like a Mastercard commercial, "What's in YOUR notebook?"

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html