>> screened bottoms -- allow one to non-invasively screen for mites

> I assume you are referring to opening up the hive and taking a sample. The
implication being that this procedure is "invasive." I object...

"Invasive" means what it says.  What it might imply to someone unskilled or
inexperienced in the craft is irrelevant.  Of course one must open hives to
inspect bees.

But NOT to count mites!

I can train anyone, even a child, to do "sticky board tests" in less than
half an hour.  That person needs no beekeeping ability, no protective gear,
no smoker etc.  There is no heavy lifting required. The work can be done at
night, if need be.  "Non-invasive" can be a business advantage, but one
first has to look at things as a business.

There are also tangible impacts on the productivity of a hive that is
needlessly opened, moreso when nectar is being processed.  I forget the
title of the study, but I vaguely recall something like "4 hours" being the
recovery time for the hive to get back on track with evaporating nectar down
to honey.

Is pulling off roof and supers, and pulling 3 frames from the brood chamber
from which to sample a total of a cup and a half of bees (See COLOSS Bee
Book sections 3 and 4) somehow NOT considered disruptive to the hive?
Anyone thinking this needs to work with their veil laying on their back for
a while, and see how long it takes for the inevitable kamikaz-bee to fly at
high speed straight into your forehead, warning you that the next bee will
come in stinger first.

Also, the demographic, the (inevitably single) mother who sees a beehive as
a "science class in a box" for her (often, home-schooled) kids tends to have
the best hive notebooks, and the most data.  (Some of these notebooks are
impressive hand-illuminated works of art worthy of the monks of old, as the
kids have gotten into Mom's abandoned and forgotten stash of "scrapbooking"
supplies.)  Clearly, the kids can't be popping the top off the hive when Mom
is busy, but they can do pre-dawn entrance trash pile analysis and regular
sticky-board varroa counts.

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