Chris Writes:
>People seem to disapprove of runniness in bees but, except on the rare occasions when it is necessary to find the queen, I don't see it as a disadvantage. It is useful at harvest time when you have only to put a super down in front of the hive and see all the bees that were in it trooping back home.

Runniness,  -I tend to associate this characteristic with defensiveness.
The colonies that spill out over the edge of the hive, or sag like paint 
on the comb to the point they fall off on the ground. Queen often ends up
on the ground or in a corner at the bottom of the hive.  These 
colonies, Ive noticed, tend to get aggressive down the road.

Yes it does make queen finding difficult.
I tend to keep an eye out for the queen so I can maintain her safety 
when handling frames.  Runniness can be hazardous to the queens
safety if you do not know where she is, or if she doesn't stay-fast
on the frames. 

Best Wishes,
J. Waggle

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm