Bees on the back wall

[Silvbee]

Ive just been flicking through Ted Hoopers, "Guide to Bees and Honey" as I often do at this time of year and I read a piece that I've never properly taken in before. Ted advises to push all the brood to one wall of the hive so the bees can only expand in one direction. The idea being that when the time comes for inspection you only have to check a couple of frames to see how the bees are expanding.

Has anyone tried this? The theory sounds good but Id worry that the brood frame next to the hive wall could chill easily.

Thoughts?

BIZ

[Jon]

I find that normally the first frame in front of the brood nest is nearly 100% pollen.
My guess would be that if you push the brood nest up against the front wall, (assuming warm way frames) the brood in the first frame will hatch and be replaced by pollen.
I don't really see the advantage of what Hooper is proposing here.
The brood is unlikely to chill irrespective of position as long as there are enough bees to cover it.

[Silvbee]

I thought the bees would just adjust the brood nest back the way they want it as well. The main advantage would be not having to check both sides of the brood to measure expansion.

[Jon]

Hi
It only takes a couple of minutes anyway.

When I check a colony I usually remove the back frame first and lift the frames out to check one by one sliding each one back.
The back frame I removed first then goes to the front.
next Inspection I remove the front frame first and check the frames moving each one forward one place.
The front frame is replaced at the back.
If it were up to me I would let them expand the brood nest front and back as they would do naturally but it probably makes little difference if you push the nest against a front or back wall.
Not really sure what Hooper is on about.