Clipping/Marking Queens

1. The article tells you how to mark the bees with paint (by holding them down in a Baldock Cage - something that looks like a medieval torture device), and how to clip the queen's wings.

2. No. No no no no no no no.

I read Trumpet of the Swan as a kid. If you've never read it, go get it. And all the other E.B. White books; if not for you, then for your child(ren).

In the story, a (mute) swan named Louis falls in love with another swan. At one point, both of these wild swans ended up in a zoo (temporarily), and the zookeepers are conspiring to pinion Louis's romantic interest in order to ensure that she never escape.

I won't spoil it, but suffice to say that I have been staunchly anti-clipping of any wings ever since.

This ... the article ... it just sounds awful. I think there's a difference between helping your bees along and dipping into their honey once in a while, and then just flat out exploiting your hive. I feel like this crosses the line immensely.