Pete B snip followed by > my comment... 
I understand, of course. But since we are on this topic

>Come spring time and quite often in the fall (did not happen this year due to rain and inability to get to out yards) I reverse hive bodies.  Most years about 50% need reversed and 50% do not.  The spring routine removes litter from the bottom board and establishes what is or is not in the bottom box < likely the greatest + since almost always these hives need a good bit of feeding.  In the fall of the year the same process is followed primarily to reduce problems with wax moth and to know just how much feed is in a hive.

>Tipping... I do a lot of tipping of hives (in a recent ABJ article called hefting.. which it is not) and this often clues me in to which hives have nothing in the bottom since they 'feel' top heavy. Consequently almost all of these are reversed, add a feeder and fed.

>To follow along more with Pete B prior comments... if the hive is very tall I use a dolly (home made from a baby stroller) which after I insert the dolly plate at the bottom/back side of the hive I then lean the hive down gently. I then disassemble the hive from the bottom upward (reversed from normal disassembly). Beyond being easier on your back this has a couple of advantages... 1)looking upward thru the bottom bars gives you a quick answer to which boxes are empty and which are not, 2) since most often the boxes have been there awhile breaking apart the boxes with all that burr comb is easier since you can break apart the box (scrape wax if you do that sort of thing) standing straight up vs bending over (in a very uncomfortable and not very effective manner).

>If you have never tried this upside down style of inspection all I can say is... try it and then you may wonder why you had not tried this before???

Gene in Central Texas...     

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