A Comprehensive Guide to Inspecting A Beehive
Introduction
Are you wondering, how do I inspect a beehive? This blog is for you! Regular weekly inspections of beehives are crucial for maintaining healthy colonies and ensuring a productive harvest of honey. In this guide, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of conducting a comprehensive beekeeping inspection.
Prepare Adequately
Before inspecting a beehive, gather all the necessary tools and equipment. Essential items include a beekeeping suit, gloves, smoker, hive tool, and a notebook for recording observations. Ensure that you move calmly and deliberately to avoid agitating the bees.
Choose the Right Time
Selecting the right time for to inspect a beehive is crucial. Bees are generally more docile during mild weather conditions, preferably on a warm, sunny day. Avoid inspecting hives in extreme temperatures or during heavy rain. In terms of frequency, you should inspect a beehive once per week throughout the active beekeeping season, which is from April to September in the UK. Even if the weather isn't ideal, don't continually put off doing inspections. After the middle of April in the UK, you really do need to inspect your beehive every week, regardless of the weather. Umbrellas at the ready!
Smoke the Hive
Before you inspect a beehive, gently puffing smoke into the entrance of the hive helps to calm the bees and minimises the risk of aggression. Ensure that the smoke is cool and not too dense to avoid harming the bees. You can also crack the boxes and puff smoke inside the cracks. Leave for 1-2 mins before commencing inspections.
Begin with Observation
Before you starting inspecting a beehive, wait for the smoke to work its magic and start by observing the hive's entrance. Look for any unusual behaviour, such as aggressive guarding or the presence of dead bees. Take note of the overall activity and whether pollen is being brought into the hive.
Examine the Brood Chamber
During the beehive inspection, carefully lift each frame in the brood chamber, examining both sides. Look for signs of a healthy brood pattern, including capped and uncapped cells. Note the presence of eggs, larvae, and pupae, and be alert to any abnormalities such as discoloured or sunken cappings.
Check for Stores
On each beehive inspection, check to see the colony has sufficient stores to ensure its survival until the next inspection can take place. If the colony has insufficient stores, you must take immediate action and feed the colony. Colonies can collapse very quickly if they do not have enough food so it’s imperative to check this on every single inspection.
Check for Queen Presence
During your inspection of the beehive, locate the queen by observing her size, shape, and movement. Ensure that she is active and laying eggs consistently. If the queen is not found, investigate further to determine if the hive is queenless. If you cannot find the queen but you can see eggs in a good pattern, then there is no issue and the hive can be safely closed back up. I don’t even bother looking for the queen anymore, if I see a nice patch of eggs in the centre of the frame and no swarm cells, I call it a day!
If there is no queen and you find emergency cells instead, you will need a replacement queen. You can buy our mated queen bees for sale here:
Inspect for Diseases and Pests
A really important part of a beehive inspection, is to look for signs of common bee diseases/pests such as American/European Foulbrood or Varroa mites. Check for unusual odours, discoloration, or abnormalities in the brood. A thorough inspection helps in early detection and effective management. You should complete at least three disease inspections each year. A disease inspection should involve shaking all the bees off the frames and thoroughly inspecting the brood for any disorders. You can learn more about disease and brood disorders HERE
Check for Space
An often overlooked part of a beekeeping inspection is to check for space both in the brood box and the stores. Within the brood box you must ensure the queen has sufficient space to lay brood and the box is not honey bound. You can add additional space by going over to a double brood format or selecting to remove frames of stores and replace with foundation.
You must also ensure there is sufficient space for honey gathering in the supers. Never ever let the bees hit the roof of the beehive or else they will swarm. Once the top super is 80% full of bees, you can add another super on top to ensure they have enough space in the beehive.
Check out this page on my website which discusses the different ways to stop bees from swarming - https://www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk/guides/how-to-stop-bees-swarming
Check for Swarm Cells
During every beehive inspection, you should check your brood chamber to see if you can identify any swarm cells. Ideally you don't want to find any swarm cells at all but if you do, you must take action immediately.
If the swarm cells are not capped, you should be able to find the queen and take her along with the some brood, stores and bees and make a split. You can then remove ALL but one of the open swarm cells and let them requeen naturally.
If the cells are capped, the colony has likely already swarmed. In this instance, you should remove all but one of the capped queen cells and let them requeen naturally. There is no requirement to make a split and remove the queen because she has already left.
In both of these scenarios and as long as the queen cells haven't emerged, you can remove ALL of the queen cells and add in a new mated queen. This is much less risky. Especially with the rubbish weather we have in the UK. You can buy mated queens for sale at Black Mountain Honey on the link below:
Record Observations
Record keeping in beehive inspections is important. Document your findings in a notebook, including the date, weather conditions, and specific observations. Keeping detailed records helps track the hive's progress over time and aids in making informed management decisions.
Close the Hive Carefully
To finish the beehive inspection, gently reassemble the hive, ensuring that frames are properly aligned. Close the hive with care to avoid injuring any bees. Always be mindful of the queen's location during this process. You can smoke the hive edges to remove the bees and avoid squishing them!
Conclusion
Hopefully this blog has helped answer the question, how do I inspect a beehive? Regular beekeeping inspections are essential for the well-being of your colonies. By following these steps and maintaining a proactive approach, you can identify and address issues promptly, ensuring the health and productivity of your apiary. Remember to approach beehive inspections with patience, respect for the bees, and a commitment to sustainable and ethical beekeeping practices. If you would like to see a video of how to complete a beehive inspection in 5 minutes, I've added it below for you.
