Inspecting Colonies

Overview

Decide When to Perform Your Activities at the Apiary

Plan for when you will be working on your hives.

Daytime is best. This is when most of the foragers are out of the hive. Also, night time is when most critters disturb the hive.
Warmer temperatures are best. The hive is kept around 94° by the bees, so your breaking it open will cause the bees to lose the heat. It will take them the better part of the next day to regain that temperature.
- If the temperature is below 65°, unless the activity is critical (e.g., feeding the hive, or adding/removing varroa treatment) it is best to plan for another day.
- If the temperature is below 40°, the only reason you should open any part of the hive is to feed them.
Avoid bad weather. Certainly rainy days are out, but if the weather is bad (or headed that way), the bees can sense it and are more easily upset when you disturb their home. Even days where it is too windy will cause the bees to be more suspect of your activities.
Avoid opening or disturbing colonies when neighbors or the general public are participating in outdoor activities within 150 feet of the apiary.

Before Heading to the Apiary - Plan Your Work

Plan what you want to achieve at the inspection. A good place to start for this is to look at your records from the prior inspections. Some examples are below.

Activity	Considerations
General Inspection	Bring your mobile phone. If you experience any issues, you should be able to use your phone to call for help. Bring a camera (if your phone doesn't have a camera). This is a great way to document anything unusual which you want to review with your mentor. Bring paper and a pencil. Don't try to remember everything you observed or did. You will need to record these in your Inspection and Action Record once you are finished inspecting the hives (or do that one hive at a time).
Check on space utilization	Do you need to add any brood boxes or honey supers? Bring as many hive boxs (full of frames) as you think you will need. Bring hive boxes for the size of your hives (i.e., 10-frame, 8-frame, or 5-frame/NUC boxes) Do you need to remove any brood boxes or honey supers?
Consider honey harvesting	Will you be removing any honey supers, or frames? Where you you put the supers when removed (the ground is NOT a good place)? Will you be removing any honey frames? Where you you put the frames you remove? What will you put in their place?
Check on varroa	What tools & materials do you need to perform a mite test? The Varroa EasyCheck is a great tool for this. If you are taking multiple samples and then analyzing the results later, ensure you can identify which sample belongs with the respective hive.
Are there any weather-related changes?	Do you need to add entrance reducers? Do you need to remove any entrance reducers? Do you need to add robbing screens?
Are there any pest-related changes?	Do you need to add tack strips to the entrance? If so, pre-drill some holes for attaching them to the entrance board, and bring the screws needed. Also, bring a screw driver. The vibration to the hive, coupled with interruption to the comings and goings of the bees, will probably make them angry. Consider wearing heavy gloves.
Splitting the colony into a 2nd hive?	Bring a complete hive (bottom board, brood box(es) with frames, inner cover, telescoping cover, etc.) Consider feeding the 2d colony.
Combining two colonies, or adding a swarm to a hive?	Bring newspaper
Will you need to feed the colony?	What food do you need to bring to feed them? What feeding equipment will you need to bring?
Will you need to clean up the area around the apiary?	Bring a mower Bring a weed whacker Bring hedge trimmers If the area is wooded, consider also bring a saw to remove branches which may have fallen onto the hives.

Before Heading to the Apiary - Pack Up What You Will Need

Collect the items you will need when at the apiary. Some items to consider include:

Hive tool(s) -- at least one for each person
Sharpie to mark any added frames with the year they were added
Several entrance reducers, including ones with robbing screens
Stiff rod for cleaning out the bottom of the hive
Bee brush (link is an example)
Cappings scratcher (link is an example)
Extra beetle traps (I prefer the reusable beetle jail over the one-time use beetle blaster)
Mineral oil and pollen for the beetle traps
Extra ratchet straps
Container, preferably with a lid. This will get used when you remove any propolis or burr comb from the honey. Don't simply toss it onto the ground: this encourages pests.
Extra smoker fuel
A lighter to re-light the smoker. I recommend one which has a long reach so you can get down into the smoker if necessary. Also, look for one which works well in the wind.
Frame hanger (link is an example)
Frame spacer, if you are wanting to do this on your honey supers.

Before Heading to the Apiary - Get Ready

Start your smoker

Get your safety equipment on. If you are expecting the colony to be aggressive or angry, I recommend you wear boots which protect your ankles, combined with elastic straps around your trouser legs.

Performing the Inspection

As you approach and enter the apiary,

Look around to see if any damage has been done to the hives in the apiary.
Look around the apiary to see if there is are any indications that pests have been around.

Now, for each colony you are inspecting:

Before opening the hive up,
- Look at the outside of the hive. Is the colony doing anything odd or unexpected?
- Is there an extraordinary amount of dead bees on the ground? A few hundred is expected (remember,they only live 6 weeks), but thousands is not good.
- Note any changes in defensiveness. Does an increase make sense (bad weather, etc.)?
When you open up the hive,
- Is there an unusual odor?
- Look for indications of diseases. Some indications include bees walking around in a disoriented manner, hairless or wingless bees, and diarrhea on the outside of the hive.

	Expect to See	Indications of problems or action needed
Any hive box ********* Any Hive Boxes**	Some brace comb Propolis holding stuff in place	Excess brace comb Excess propolis Evidence of pests Evidence of wax moth activity Honey Supers ***********
Honey Supers		Brood cells Brood Chamber ***********
Brood Chamber	Presence of eggs, uncapped larva, & capped brood Brood frames with honey and pollen around the brood cells Brood cells are tightly spaced Some drone cells Unfilled queen cups	Indications of a laying worker Presence of eggs not centered on the bottom of the cell and standing straight up Presence of multiple eggs per cell Brood cells which look "odd" Cell shapes which look "odd" Workers are filling up all the available space with nectar/honey. Brood cells are seemingly randomly spaced around Drone cells > 10% of the brood Queen cups filled No evidence of the queen

More Information

Published Articles

How to Inspect & Evaluate Your Hive by Burns, David. Bee Culture magazine, May 2023.
How to Inspect A Hive by Gabritsch, Darryl. Bee Culture magazine.
- Part 1, December 2021.
- Part 2, July 2023
- Part 3, July 2023

Books and Papers

The Backyard Beekeeper by Flottum, Kim.
Beekeeping for Beginners by Bradshaw, Amber.

Web Sites

The Hive Tool and How to Use It, by Dadant
Inspecting, by Bush Bees

Presentations & Videos

Inspections (YouTube Playlist) by Burns, David.

About this Site

Disclaimer: eMail comments to me at BeekeepingBoK @ Gmail.com. The process of beekeeping can cause injury or be a health hazard unless proper precautions are taken, including the wearing of appropriate protective equipment.