> I have for each of my yard the hive number and for each hive the number of 
> frames covered by bees. I can dispose right now - cause of a good winter - 
> close to 30% of my colonies... The distribution for each yard resembles a 
> Weibull rather than a Gauss
> (normal) distribution.

As I understand it, depending on the parameters, a  Weibul distribution can 
"mimic the behavior of other statistical distributions such as the normal 
and the exponential".  Thus, I think we need a better description before we 
understand what you see.

> I think I should discard those colonies that are 1 standard distribution 
> down the average. But ...

From this, I assume that you are thinking to cull on just this one 
criterion.  To me that is surprising, since size is only one selection 
criterion, and not necessarily a meaningful one -- unless it is linked to 
other characteristics you seek.

My understanding is that you are approaching your spring season and that 
these are overwintered bees.  Unless your major goal is splitting, and I 
think if you have a surplus of bees, it is not, then large populations at 
this date could actually indicate undesirable properties by many standards. 
You may wish to keep the medium ones -- or conceivably even the small 
ones -- depending on their condition otherwise, the timing of your season 
and other factors like winter feed consumption.

Personally, I would not use this one characteristic as a selector.  I would 
look for clean bottom boards (no chalk), disease history, and other 
indicators of health, manageability and productivity.

Moreover, I would have marked the best performers in each yard for the 
previous season and consider keeping them regardless of size if they were 
disease-free and not vicious.

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