a Peter Borst snip... 
Speaking, as we were, of Richard Taylor's books -- and brood box management, here's a snip from him. 

Some beekeepers ... routinely 'switch hive bodies,' that is, switch the positions of the two stories of each hive, thinking that this will induce the queen to increase her egg laying and distribute it more widely through the hive. I doubt, however, that any such result is accomplished ... I have long since found that such planning is best left to the bees.

my comments..
personally I always enjoyed Richard Taylor's books.  well written and highly informative in my estimation.

as to 'reversing'... I do that quite a lot here.  use to be a once a year manipulation but now twice (once in spring and once in the fall).  I have never heard anyone suggest such a manipulation would increase a queens egg laying < it would be interesting to hear someone explain the mechanism that would make this plausible???  

how and why this works here...  in about 50% of the hives there is no need to reverse since the bees and brood have started to build downward anyway.  in the other half which continues to brood upward 'reversing' accomplishes several goals.  1) it establishes (or not) in your mind whether there is anything in the bottom box and 2) this tearing the hive down to the bottom board allows you to clean off any debris that has accumulated on the bottom bar < at least here this may be the biggest plus since any hive that is brooding upward and away from the bottom board will almost without fail become an early victim of small hive beetle and then wax moth.

quite often after reversing I make a decision based on what is in the hive as to how much feed a hive needs to receive over the immediate planning horizon. 

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