> >I have been pondering this a bit myself,  We know  that SHB congregate in
> hives that are already weakening.  IE  its easy to watch them expand
> quickly in hives that they are successful

In a hive that is hopelessly queenless it is almost overnight.  There are
always eggs present and in sick or queenless hives they are not removed and
hatch in a day or so.

> 
> I can see an advantage for SHB to move to weak colonies, 

SHB are far more variable than this, at least here in north east New South
Wales Australia.  That is as far east as you can go without getting your
feet wet. There 'appears' to be great variation between hives as to SHB
numbers, even hives that have larvae present do not necessarily have large
adult populations.  There also 'appear' to be hot spots as to locations as
well.  It is not uncommon to see what 'appear' to be the highest adult
populations in the strongest hives.

I say 'appear' because we do not have an equivalent of alcohol wash etc., so
are just going on our perception when we lift a lid, or pick up a super
after putting it (in my case on a table)down on the lid.

It has also been suggested that maybe the adults are more attracted to a
strong colony in cooler weather.

To date I have not found any work that may have been done on SHB in the
natural environment.  I would expect them to be attracted to the stronger
hives in nature as these would have more hive detritus in the bottom of the
cavity which I would expect to be a great spot to breed.  

Geoff Manning

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