David Goble wrote:
"looking at your hive to much, will create stress, which will cause
disease or swarming, etc."
As a hobbyist, I try to get into my hives every week. I have not had
a swarm in 15 years of keeping bees. Nor have I had disease problems.
It really depends a lot on how you handle the bees. I use a minimum
of smoke and slow deliberate movements. I have watched a queen laying
eggs as I held the frame, I have seen "dancing" workers. I really
doubt that 'such' manipulations increase swarming. Plus I have never
heard that ample supering would do more than reduce the incidence of
swarming.
Tom Elliott
Eagle River, Alaska