Dear collective wisdom, the question of whether beginners can open hives too often came up. Some of my experienced colleagues suggested that it takes 2 or 3 days for the hive to recover from inspection and this causes a setback. My advice has always been to inspect frequently and learn what normal looks like so you can recognise abnormal. Technique may play a part as there's obviously a difference between gloveless and gentle compared to full suit of armour and bashing them around. I went to Google (Scholar too) to see if there is any evidence for inspection setback and drew a blank (perhaps my poor choice of search terms, or maybe it was done and dusted 100 years ago). Anyone care to chip in? Thanks and seasons greetings, Andrew Wootton *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html