Hi all,

I don't wish to distract from the "laws" thread (hence the new heading), but I have some questions that perhaps list members may have some insight into.

I've recently obtained a copy of an article from Bee World, Vol 52, 1971 that discusses AHB, and specifically the origins.

I'm familiar with the story....a beekeeper saw queen excluders on the entrances of the experimental colonies, saw that they were knocking the pollen off the legs of the foragers, and decided to remove them.

What I didn't know was the specific timeline.  According to this article, in the 10 days between when the excluders were removed and the researchers learned of the removal, 26 colonies swarmed.

I'm having a hard time understanding what was going on.

1.  If the goal was, in part, to keep drones from leaving (as the article states), how were they ever going to inspect the hives?  I've had queen excluders on entrances, and when the hive is opened, the drones are all reved up to fly....and they do, en mass.

2.  What meaningful data could be obtained from colonies with an excluder over the entrance?

3.  If the hives were only 10 days away from swarming when the screens were removed, and the researchers didn't look at them for at least 10 days (it isn't clear from the text how they discovered the screens had been removed), what would have happened if the screens had never been removed?  Those 26 colonies would have _tried_ to swarm, and either would be unable due to the excluders, or a virgin queen would have ended up squeezing through.  Again, what meaningful data could have been obtained under these circumstance?  Were there "control" colonies with similar excluder setups? (the article doesn't say one way or another).  

I've seen a closed Ulster observation hive try to swarm (it was quite a show at the farmers market...bees spiraling around and around all over the visible comb while a queen was emerging below the screen...I thought we had another day).

Anyone have further details or insight?

deknow

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