I guess I still have a few questions....
1. I know you've said you keep all your colonies on pallets, you put the trees and all on them as well?
2. Do you subscribe to the logic of over-supering or under-supering when adding empty hive boxes to these swarms?
3. When you do mite drop counts, do you have to compensate for the wind?
4. Using tree swarms you are almost always on the move and must use migratory tops don't you?
5. Do you paint your swarm trees or do you leave them to weather "naturally"?
6. Do you have any pointers for starters like Cindi that might want to use your "trees until boxes" method?
I'm impressed, I get nose bleeds from step ladders and so I could never utilize a method like this - Kudos my friend!
Now if we can only get ABJ or Bee Culture to endorse writing an article we might get somewhere.
Charles Martin Simon embraces backward beekeeping, I think you're leaps head of him by not even using hive boxes!
I know financing is everything to good research, I'm thinking about giving $20 to my local community college to look into this!
[I like Mici's idea about the cane.... ]
But what if we strapped you in wheel chair and dipped you in honey?
I bet those bees would come right out of that tree!
May you have the bestest beautiful life with the hip happiest sunshiny, sun beating down on your face, grass under your toes, breeze your back, oceans breaking on the beach while enjoying a picnic with John's brunette mistress from Hooters kind of day!
-Jeff