> Dear  bee-liners
>  Are young bees (ones that haven't progressed to the forager
>  stage) ever a cause for concern with tipping or blowing methods?
>  If these bees are in the supers they wouldn't be able to find their
>  way back home. Is this ever a problem in practice?
 
Yes it sure can be.  That is one of many reasons why it is an
advanced technique.  A good intuitive understanding of bees is
required to use the method without disasters from time to time.
 
That is also why it is important that a good flow be on.  In spite of
what I read in the books, experience has shown that in a good flow,
*every* bee in the hive seems to be able to find her way home.  In less
optimal conditions, they just cluster in the boxes.
 
The more I think about the pitfalls, the more I wonder if I should
have opened this can of worms on this forum.  I notice that a number
of other commercials (good friends of mine) that I KNOW tip
*routinely*,are remarkably silent.
 
Those of us who work with bees daily for decades do things without
thinking or putting them into words, and they just work.  When it
comes to trying to explain, it gets really tough knowing what to
explain and what is just intuitive.  You just get tangled up in
explaining previous explanations.
 
An example is combining hives -- I haven't even thought seriously
about using newspaper for twenty years.  Whenever I want to combine
hives, I just do it (without) and there are no problems.  Twenty
five years ago, I can remember piles of dead bees resulting from my
inexperienced attempts.
 
Nonetheless, having started this, I guess I should finish it.
 
At this point I should mention that for some reason, my ISPs  have
problems with finding <[log in to unmask]> and I have been
without contact for a day or two.  It seems that the problem occurred
right in the middle of sending a clarification post to the group --
truncating the post, so I will repost the missing and incomplete
messages shortly.
 
Moreover, I was out yesterday and played around with tipping in light
robbing conditions and have some *very* interesting observations that I
will try to write up today.
 
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0  Internet:[log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka>