> I have always been of the opinion that you give the bees a nice landing
> board.  Given the oportunity to choose, the bees choose the little hole.
 
Astute observation.
 
Why do we people always try to make bees do things our way?
 
Check out http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Spring/mgmt.htm
and  http://www.internode.net/Honeybee/Spring.htm for pictures of my
answers to the question.  After years of trying to follow the books, I'm
now trying to work with my bees not against them.  I do what they ask when
I can.
 
We don't scrape ladder comb any more and now regard bee space as more of a
general principle than a *law* of bee behaviour.
 
Bees know how to be bees without our assistance.  We just facilitate and
help deal with the things that are beyond their reach -- if we are smart
-- and profit to the extent that we help more than hinder.
 
FWIW
 
Allen