1. One of my beekeeping buddies said you made the statement that every current manufacturer of beehive equipment violates the bee space.  Is that true?
   

My answer was in the affirmative as to the manufacturers I am aware of.  Granted, every one of them puts material out that from time to time falls short in one way or another, such as finger joints that are off, or top bars over-cut in the wedge bar saw setup, etc. If you carefully examine any assembled hive, even if it is select, I will guarantee that none of them fully comply.  Why?  No one specifically knows.  It could be ease in manufacturing, force of habit, lack of beekeeping knowledge among the individual workers, or “that is the way so-and-so set it up.”  No one is willing to break the mold, even though there is no standardization among American manufacturers.  Not to say we are closer than other areas around the world.  In Europe, one sees every type known to man, each claiming theirs is best.  Even the British, who are masters at precision in their manufacturing process, produce more variations than Carter has pills.  Don't believe me?  Then take a look at the ends of the top bars with frames in position in a box and check the ends resting on the rabbit.  Can a bee move around the end?  Can a beetle run in there and escape being herded by the bees?  Kim Flottum of Bee Culture has long been an advocate of some sort of standardization, and I totally agree with him.  However, I believe the beekeeping community needs to begin to closely reexamine the basic hive and its components from baseline.  This will, in my opinion, become even more evident as the SHB moves through our bees.  (Equipment-12-02)