Hi  Chris, Everett and All:

> Do you find that the hives at one end of the row tend to be heavier than 
> the
> other; or that the centre one is heaviest; or that weight is evenly
> distributed between them?

I do not have records that would constitute data, but my impression is the 
same
as Everett's:  there does not seem to be any pattern of weight distribution. 
That
is after 30 years of using this system.  Nor does there seem to be any 
pattern of
spring survival being better at the ends or middle.  That would be very 
noticeable
after cleaning off the spring deadouts and before we restock all the stands 
when we
make our first move into blueberries.

In addition, I feel that when hives swarm, supercede, or I requeen using a 
cell
my mating success is acceptable to me (most seem to return to the hive, no 
good
records to quantify however).

However, when the stands are arranged in a line (each stand has a different
directional orientation, boxes are a range of many colours and lack of 
colours)
I do think that the end hives of the end stands gather some drifting bees.

If we unload on both sides of the truck along a north sheltered treeline the
more southerly line of hives seems to benefit from drifting bees in the 
early
spring.   These winter yards are often very heavily stocked with hives 
(often
over a hundred hives).

Stan 

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