> One thing I thought might be useful to share with others is a collection
of “signs” that can give one shortcuts to identifying hive issues.

Hi Tony,  the signs that you mentioned are all good--sorry that this
discussion got sidetracked by the OTC issue!

Here are some more, off the top of my head, in no particular order:

1.  Inadequate flight at entrance compared to others.
2.  Lack of returning pollen foragers; lack of pollen around brood.
3.  Dead/dying/crawling bees in front of entrance.
4.  Bees with deformed wings.
5.  Mite counts by some means--after nutrition, this is most important.
6.  Irregular brood pattern.
7.  Dead/dying larvae/pupae.
8.  Poor adult bee:brood ratio--first sign of impending colony collapse
(due to excessive loss of workers)
9.  Sealed:open brood ratio of less than 50% suggests high larval mortality.
10. Amount of jelly around day-old larvae--this is best indicator of colony
nutritional state.
11.  Colony not gaining weight consistent with other colonies in the apiary.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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