When do I do my first inspection of the year

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When do I do my first inspection of the year

Steve's Bees
Published by Steve Jacklin in Beginning Beekeeping · Monday 03 Feb 2025 ·  4:30
One question I see a lot at this time of year is "How early in the year should I start inspecting my Bees"

Now unfortunately there is a sense of bravado or competition in some beekeepers to get an inspection of their Bees in as early as possible in the year. I've seen some Beekeepers proudly stating that they have inspected their Bees in early February.

"As Beekeepers we are here to look after the well being of our Bees, we are not here to enhance our own ego."

Temperature

If you look in the "BBKA Guide to Beekeeping" the minimum temperature for an inspection is 14°C. We sometimes get warm enough days in late February early March and you may think, great time to inspect, but you should not just think of today you need to look at the temperature for the next few weeks. If during that first inspection you accidentally kill the queen. The Bees will raise a new queen using the emergency instinct if there are suitable eggs in the colony. Once that new queen emerges she needs to get mated. Queen Bees need an external temperature of at least 16°C to mate and a supply of drones. If the Queen doesn't get mated within 4 weeks of hatching she will no longer be fertile in which case you have lost the colony.

Reasons to Inspect

There's a few reasons why Beekeepers need to inspect their Bees
  1. Have they enough room?
  2. Have they enough food?
  3. Are they going to Swarm?
  4. Have they got a disease?
  5. I want to see the queen?- very very tenuous reason.
None of them are reason to inspect in February / March and can be managed in a non invasive manner.

1. Have they enough room?

This is simple enough to deal with. Lift up the crown board if you have Bees across 9 frames then they may be running out of room. There's no need to start lifting frames out. If you know there is an imminent flow of nectar and the colony is feeling heavy then put on a queen excluder and add a super. This is something I do most years as here in the North East of England we can get weeks of cold north winds in the spring but they are still bringing in nectar.

2. Have they enough food?

There's no need to even take the roof off for this one. Just lift the whole hive and see if it is heavy. If it feels a bit light add some fondant on top of the crown board.

3. Are they going to Swarm?

Very very unlikely. I wouldn't expect them to start thinking about Swarming until late April. As I said earlier the Queen needs temperatures of at least 16°C to be able to mate and she needs Drones to mate with. The Bees will not swarm until those conditions are met.

4. Have they got a Disease?

Well if its AFB or EFB your thinking about, then a responsible Beekeeper would of spotted these in their inspections the previous year. There's not a lot you can do and even the Seasonal Bee Inspectors don't start work until April. If your thinking about Varroa then there is still no need to open the hive. You just need to place the Varroa board under the hive for a week, do a count and if you have a drop of more than 2 mites per day you need to treat. Even treating for Varroa you don't have to disturb the colony. Just lift the crown board and place whatever treatment you use on top of the frames.

5. I want to see the queen?

This is a very very tenuous excuse I had from one Beekeeper. Personally it doesn't matter what time of year it is I'm inspecting I never go into a hive with the sole intention of looking for the Queen. If I see eggs I know she is there. There is an easy way to see if there is a Queen in a colony. Look at the entrance of the hive. If there are Bee flying in carrying pollen then there is a Queen. If there is no Queen they don't collect pollen.

When do I start inspections

My mentor said to me when I started Beekeeping "There's no need to start inspections until at least Easter and its warm enough to work outside in shirt sleeves". So I wait until Easter, then start looking at the long range temperatures and then I decide when I'm going to start. One year I didn't start inspections proper until the beginning of June due to the North East Wind. What did I find. Lots of healthy colonies with no signs of them wanting to Swarm. As Beekeepers we need to forget about our egos and think more on the welfare of our Bees.


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