Here's a semi-obvious observation from someone who has
an open mind, but not so open that just any idea can
just wander in one ear and take over the joint:
Consider that probability alone can reveal if bees
"prefer" Housel positioning:
1) Let's assume that bees "like" "Housel Positioning", and
build hives that way if given a choice. By contrast, let's
call my traditional approach to putting frames in
woodenware" Random", where a frame has an equal chance
of being "right" "or "wrong" under "Housel House Rules".
2) The "worst" a set of 10 could be would be "5 wrong",
which would result in no frames "correct" (an anti-Housel).
3) With more than 5 "errors", things start getting "better"
and returning back to a "perfect Housel".
4) So if all hives have 10 frames, I only have a 2 in
1024 chance of getting a "perfect Housel" by chance
alone, but I also have only a 2 in 1024 chance of
getting an "anti-Housel", where every frame is wrong.
Most hives will have a mix of 1 to 5 "errors".
The maximum number of combinations is "2 to the nth", so
in 9-frame hives, we only have 512 possible combinations,
but we still have 2 possible "perfect" configurations.
8-frame give us 256 combinations, and so on.
If bees prefer "perfect Housels", many more than "2 in 2 to
the nth" foundation-free hives will be "perfect Housels".
If not, the relative position of any one frame in relation
to its neighbors will be "no better than a coin flip", and
only a small number of the "2 to the nth" wild hives will be
"perfect Housels".
An excellent population for sampling would be top-bar hives,
which I understand are not given embossed foundation.
To use a notation that is easier to type, I'd suggest that
we use an "A" to represent an upside-down "Y", so we can have:
Frame Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
A "perfect YA Housel" YA YA YA YA YA YA YA YA YA YA
A "perfect AY Housel" AY AY AY AY AY AY AY AY AY AY
"AY", Error In Frame 2 AY YA AY AY AY AY AY AY AY AY
"YA", Error In Frame 3 YA YA AY YA YA YA YA YA YA YA
An "AY YA" Anti-Housel AY YA AY YA AY YA AY YA AY YA
A "YA AY" Anti-Housel YA AY YA AY YA AY YA AY YA AY
Ya? Ay!
jim
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