> Maybe it's because I'm further north, and there's always a chill?
Dunno... when do you do your first pull? I grew up in NH, and I recall
some pretty hot days and nights. I look at it this way - if it is cool
enough that you can get escape boards to work, you can just as easily
just pull the supers and do "set asides", the bees will leave, and you can
come back at dusk to pick up the empty supers. (See, I just saved you
all kinds of capital equipment cost, and extended the day for you by
several hours! )
> the weather is bad...too cold for fume boards...
Then there's breeze boards, the fan powered boards, the rag in the
unlit smoker soaked with Bee-Quick, even the propane torch on the
metal of the fume board. Beekeepers are an inventive bunch, I can't
keep up with all the approaches used.
> we'll put the supers on escapes, and the supers are clear in the morning.
Man, I can't imagine how you keep your help when you make them do
all that heavy lifting twice!
> The beekeeper plans to harvest this weekend. It's cloudy, and chilly.
> Fume boards don't work well in cloudy weather. Depending on which
> chemical you are using, they won't work at all. Then what?
See above - there's many ways to skin that cat.
> The weekend is over, and the honey doesn't get harvested.
I disagree - the usual experience is that by weekend's end, the supers
have been extracted and returned to the hives from which they came
for refilling. With escape boards, one may not finish in time.
But, to each his own.