Hello Alan & All,
Alan wrote:
 Are horizontal landing boards just a foible of beekeepers and beehive
 designers?
We need those for our European bees!  Africanized bees fly directly in the
entrance.  One of the first things I noticed about Africanized bees was
watching them not use the landing board.
 Seriously I imagine beekeepers patterned bee hives after houses with front
porches for looks and the idea has hung around. In my opinion hives with
several openings are prefered by the bees and the way most hives I have
removed from building have been. I did a experiment once using two swarm
catchers. one a hive without a landing  board and one with. The hive without
the landing board cought more  swarms over the two year period.  The hive
with several entrance holes  cought the most however.

Bob