>      Perhaps twenty years ago, _Bee Culture_ ran an article about a hive
> scale made from what I would call a bathroom scale...
 
I have seen a design with the bathroom scale used upside down and a mirror
system like a periscope used to read the scale.  in fact, I built one.  It
worked OK.
 
> An easy way to judge the weight of a colony is to stand behind the hive
> and, with one hand resting on the lid to steady it, give a heave upward
> at  the lowest handhold.  A hive that is noticeably lighter than its
> neighbor colonies needs feeding and/or inspecting.
 
True.  We check all our fall colonies this way and actually carry two
brood chambers of known weight with us to check (calibrate) our guesses
from time to time.  A good operator can guess hive weight within 1 or 2
kg about 90% of the time after getting a 'feel' for it.
 
BTW, light and heavy hives compared to the neighbours mean many things.
For example, heavy ones may be queenless.  At any rate, those that are
unusual in weight or have numerous drones merit attention.
 
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FWIW -- on the matter of small clusters and brood chambers choked with
honey brought up previously:
 
The writer said to forget bad queens as a cause.  Perhaps not.  Although
the queens may be all laying well, the stock itself may be at fault.  I
have had some bees that worked well in the area where they were raised,
but which were horrible for me.  They were very conservative and much
preferred to store in the brood chambers.
 
I realize that the bees in question are likely Buckfast, but my Dutch
friends assure me that there are many many types of Buckfast and in
Europe they are culivated for their differences.  I haven't had Buckfast
for 20 years or more, but when I did they plugged the brood boxes and
built a lot of brace comb.
 
I have also read that maintaining Buckfast purity and nature can be
tricky.  I ain't no expert, but I wonder...
 
Allen
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