Hello all,
     Recently, a post was made asking about bees hanging out on the front of
the hive.  A reply was posted that this is often seen, and in their opinion,
the bees actually did less work when they exhibited this behavior.   I have
two hives, side by side, relatively equal in number of bees and setup.  One
of the hives has thousands of bees crawling around and washboarding on the
front of the hive.  Worried, I checked, and found no signs of possible
swarming.  They have plenty of room, and the tops of both hives are propped
up slightly for ventilation.  On the second hive, there were only a few
hundred exhibiting this behavior.  Has anyone ever really studied this to
see if they do indeed produce less?  If indeed they do less work, and
produce less, would it be to our advantage to select against such idleness?
Is the loss of production negligible, and therefore of little concern?
Thanks for any help I can get on this matter.
Scott Moser

" I believe that beekeeping mirrors life.  One must endure a few stings to
reach the final sweet reward."  S. Moser