> I don't see evidence of "superstitious nonsense", unless your friend was absolutely sure that this was a primary swarm with a mated (and laying) queen.

I tell newbees to open up the hives as often as they feel like. The information, experience and enjoyment gained offsets any harm that could be caused. We're talking about a swarm here! The bees were FREE! What does she have to lose? 

I monitored a nuc from cell to laying queen this spring, opening it up almost every other day, just to see how the time intervals compared to the textbooks. Nothing bad happened to the queen due to my meddling. 

PLB

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